


Masks of the Gorgons

by Rose_of_Pollux



Series: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: Season 2 [1]
Category: Scooby Doo - All Media Types, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (Cartoon)
Genre: 13 episodes aren't enough so I'm taking matters into my own hands, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25733725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_of_Pollux/pseuds/Rose_of_Pollux
Summary: [Original 13 Ghosts 'verse, hypothetical "Season 2"] The gang finds their quest to capture the final ghost from the Chest of Demons on hold after Vincent is conscripted by an ancient goddess into taking on a different group of monsters. When Vincent orders the gang to return home while he handles this new task alone, the gang find themselves surprisingly unwilling to leave.
Series: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: Season 2 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866670
Comments: 17
Kudos: 9





	1. The Waiting Seems Like Eternity

**Author's Note:**

> So, it turns out my muse has a lot more stories to tell about the gang during the 13 Ghosts days, so this is going to be the first in a series of multichapter adventures that will serve as my “Season 2” to the original _13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo_ , with this fic creating the premise of my “Season 2.” As with the oneshot I posted last month, I’m drawing from the _Curse of the 13th Ghost_ movie for only Vincent’s backstory, and will be ignoring the “present-day” stuff from the movie, as it retconned way too many things to make sense, such as making the gang younger except for Flim-Flam or refusing to explain Scrappy’s absence. I probably will address Asamad/Asmodeus being the final ghost at some point down the line, but for the moment, he won’t be the focus.

Shaggy found the howling of the Tibetan winter winds surprisingly not as scary as he had expected. Actually, a lot of his current location was surprisingly not as scary as he expected. He had been in many ancient castles before and had been scared out of his wits—and none of _those_ castles had been on a frigid Tibetan mountaintop, either.

But this castle? In an odd way, it felt like home. And to think, he never would have ended up here if he hadn’t been so incredibly gullible…

He winced. He still felt guilty about that—opening the Chest of Demons and freeing the 13 ghosts inside—and he knew Scooby felt that way, too. In hindsight, it seemed so obvious that they were getting tricked—but neither of them could have imagined just how badly their blunder would have ended up being.

And yet… in a weird way, it had been almost worth it to meet Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul. Flim-Flam had gotten along with Scrappy right away, and Scrappy had been thrilled to have a companion close to his own age. As for Vincent, well… he had taken much longer to warm up to them, having been initially furious over the Chest being opened. Shaggy had been absolutely terrified of the warlock at first as a result, but as it became clearer that Vincent’s icy exterior was merely a façade to hide his true caring nature, the fear was eventually replaced by admiration—an admiration that Daphne and Scooby also shared. As their quest to recapture the 13 ghosts progressed, Vincent had inevitably become another member of their mixed-up little family, and it was his castle that Shaggy—and the rest of their ghost-hunting crew—were currently staying.

They had captured Zimbulu, the 12th demon ghost, at the winter solstice in Boris Kreepoff’s studio. With only one more remaining, Vincent had granted them some time off. While Flim-Flam’s swift dealing allowed him to eagerly cash in on the madness that was holiday shopping season, Shaggy, Daphne, Scooby, and Scrappy had proceeded to spend the holidays in Cocoa Beach with their longtime friends Fred and Velma; it had been a nostalgic week, reliving the days when they had been chasing after (and being chased by) crooks in costumes, and yet, they had felt guilty for leaving Vincent all alone. They couldn’t even bring it up to Fred and Velma—as far as they knew, Daphne was traveling all over the world as a reporter, with Shaggy and the dogs helping out; though it hurt to deceive their oldest friends in such a manner, they knew it was essential for their safety—Fred and Velma simply weren’t prepared to take on the burden of hunting real monsters and ghosts, some of whom had proven to be vengeful and outright dangerous, and wouldn’t have spared them.

And so, when the holidays ended and Fred and Velma returned to their day jobs, the others had picked up Flim-Flam and had ended up on the doorstep of Vincent’s castle, much to his surprise.

Nevertheless, the warlock was a most gracious host, having only two house rules: the first, the nonnegotiable rule, was that they were not to touch any unfamiliar magical object or read from any unfamiliar spellbook for their own safety; the second rule, not as strict as the first, was that they at least try not to make a mess of the place.

And so, they stayed, playing the waiting game until, they hoped, the final demon ghost would make his presence known. Vincent spent most of the days searching with his crystal ball, trying to locate the ghost, but the ghost was determined to stay under the radar. The others helped in whatever ways they could—which were limited, seeing as they didn’t have any magical lineage. But they also continued their own affairs—Daphne was submitting her articles remotely, with Shaggy and Scooby helping with the research when they weren’t busy poking around in Vincent’s kitchen. Scrappy was introducing Flim-Flam to his favorite tabletop games, and Flim-Flam returned the favor by teaching the puppy the art of grifting. January had given way to February, and February to early March, and they had all settled into this routine.

Shaggy slowly peeked out from under his stack of quilts as the wind and snow continued to howl outside. It was nearly midnight, and he was getting sleepy—but, perhaps, it wouldn’t hurt to grab a quick pre-bedtime snack…

He covered a yawn as he slipped out of bed, put on his slippers, and headed out of his room and into the hall of the castle’s turret. He paused for a moment, wondering if he ought to awaken Scooby, who was in the room across the hall; in the end, he thought better of it—whenever he invited Scooby to come along on a kitchen raid, the Great Dane usually was the one who ended up eating the lion’s share of the food. Scooby was perfectly capable of raiding the kitchen on his own if he got hungry, anyway.

Shaggy was impressed with himself as to how quickly he’d learned his way around the castle; he fully expected to be lost, even after all this time, but he made it to the kitchen from the turret in record time. His sweet tooth was active tonight, and he proceeded to grab a few squares of shortbread—a recipe that Vincent had picked up on one of his many travels, and was supposedly able to satisfy a person’s appetite with one piece. Indeed, Daphne, Flim-Flam, and Scrappy had found just one filling—and even Shaggy and Scooby had the edge taken off of their appetites after a few.

He placed a few pieces of shortbread on a small tea saucer and nibbled on one as he carried the saucer back to the turret; while making his way up the stairwell, he noticed that one of the side doors that led to the eastern wing was open. He hadn’t noticed it on his way down—perhaps he had been too hungry. Wondering who else was up at this hour, Shaggy detoured to the eastern wing.

As Shaggy headed down wing’s corridor, he realized that there was a light coming from Vincent’s study; the study was crammed full of books on all areas of magic, and beside an ornate glass window was an enchanted telescope that, when activated, displayed whatever it saw upon the walls and floor of the study. More than once, both Shaggy and Daphne had wished they could’ve let Velma in on the secret—she would have loved to have spent hours getting up-close glimpses of stars and galaxies like never before. And Fred would’ve had a field day with all of the books; there was no telling the novels he could’ve come up with just by looking at the titles alone.

Quickly realizing that Vincent was the one still awake, Shaggy moved to wish him goodnight before heading back to the turret. He reached the doorway of the study, and, sure enough, Vincent was once again gazing into the crystal ball, trying to find any sign of the final escaped ghost.

Shaggy was just about to knock on the study door to get his attention when a bright light suddenly appeared behind Vincent; Shaggy froze, his eyes widening as the light seemed to form into some sort of doorway, that opened to reveal a woman dressed in armor, carrying a shield in one hand and a long staff in the other. How had she managed to breach the numerous protection spells that Vincent had cast all around the castle!?

Vincent had turned around to seemingly confront the intruder, but then, to Shaggy’s surprise and concern, Vincent didn’t move—he seemed stunned by her presence, and didn’t even say a word.

“C’mon, Mr. V…” Shaggy murmured under his breath, as the woman surveyed Vincent with an unreadable expression. “Do _something_ …”

But Vincent still didn’t move, even as the woman now spoke—

“It has been a very long time,” she said. “And I suppose you know why I am here? I am here to collect on a _very_ old debt. Will it finally be repaid at long last?”

Shaggy watched in apprehension as Vincent now bowed before the intruder.

“It shall, My Lady,” he said. “My word is my bond—and your wish is my command.”

A satisfied smile crossed the woman’s face.

“Excellent,” she said, and she reached out with the staff, touching Vincent on the shoulder with it. “Let’s go.”

There was a flash of bright light, and Shaggy thought he saw the doorway of light close; when the light faded, both Vincent and the woman were gone—nowhere to be seen. The crystal ball was gone from its stand, as well.

And now Shaggy hit the panic button, dropping the saucer of shortbread in his haste to run back to the castle turret. What had just transpired in front of him had forcefully reminded him of when Nekara, one of the demon ghosts they had already captured, had entranced Vincent in a love spell. Was that what had just happened again? Was this new woman the final ghost, out for revenge?

Whoever or whatever she was, they had to save Vincent from her!

Shaggy was now knocking on all of the bedroom doors, raising the alarm—

“Vincent’s gone!” he cried. “He’s been spirited away! We have to find him—to save him!”

That had certainly gotten everyone awake and into the corridor in a hurry; as they ran to Vincent’s study, Shaggy relayed what he had seen and heard.

“She said something about repaying a debt, and Mr. Van Ghoul agreed to do whatever she wanted—and she just magicked herself out and took him with her!”

“It really does sound like someone wanting revenge,” Daphne said, worriedly.

“Rhat do we do!?” Scooby wailed. “Re gotta find him!”

“Uncle Scooby’s right—before she does something to him like Nekara was going to!” Scrappy fretted.

“I’m going to use _our_ crystal ball to triangulate Vince’s location,” Flim-Flam said, also concerned as he pulled his crystal from his sweatshirt pocket. “Lucky for us, he managed to take his crystal before he got Shanghaied.”

“Well, like, hurry, Flim-Flam!” Shaggy exclaimed.

“I’ve almost… got it!” the boy exclaimed, after working on the crystal ball. “Look, I can see some sort of ancient Greek temple—that must be where Vince is. I don’t see the lady—what did she look like?”

“Well, I guess you could say she looked like…” Shaggy trailed off, noticing a statue head above the study door. “Like, she looked like that woman in that statue there.”

“…Really?” Flim-Flam asked. “Well nevermind; whoever she is, we have to save Vince from her! Just another moment here, and… transport!”

Nothing happened.

“…Flim-Flam?” Daphne asked. “What went wrong?”

“I… I dunno…” Flim-Flam said. “It’s as though something is blocking the crystal-to-crystal transport.”

“I’ll bet it was that woman!” Shaggy fretted. “Like, she got in here as though all of Mr. V’s protection spells were nothing!”

“That means that meanie could have him at her mercy right now!” Scrappy exclaimed.

“Roh no,” Scooby moaned. “Poor Mr. Van Ghoul…”

“This can’t be it!” Daphne said, shaking her head in sheer disbelief. “After everything Mr. Van Ghoul’s done for us, we can’t let him down now! Flim-Flam, you’ve got to get it to work!”

“I’m trying! Agh, come _on_!” Flim-Flam shouted, shaking the crystal ball now. “We’ve gotta find Vince!”

He smacked the crystal ball in frustration, and, finally, it began to glow.

An instant later, they found themselves in the Greek temple they had seen—sprawling marble surrounded them, including an ornately decorated roof supported by giant columns—and on top of the roof was a colossal statue of the woman Shaggy had seen in Vincent’s study.

“Like, wow…” Shaggy said, as he took a few steps further inside. “This place is gigantic; Mr. Van Ghoul could be anywhere—”

“Halt, Intruders!”

“Zoinks—!”

Shaggy froze in his tracks as a winged being in ancient garb confronted them with a large bow that seemed to double as a sword blade.

“I am the Captain of the Guard here—and _you_ were not among the ones invited! You shouldn’t have been able to get here uninvited!”

“We’re sorry—we don’t mean to intrude,” Daphne said, trying to calm the winged guardsman. “But we’re looking for a friend of ours; we have reason to believe he was taken here—and that he might be in trouble!”

“You must be mistaken,” the winged guard declared. “Everyone here was invited—and no one is in any trouble.”

“Oh yeah!?” Scrappy said. “Then you shouldn’t mind us looking around to make sure of it!”

They moved to push past the winged guard, who backed up to block their way again with his bow-blade.

“You can’t go in there—you need to leave!” he insisted.

“We’re not leaving without Vince!” Flim-Flam declared.

“Rhea!” Scooby agreed, trying to be defiant despite the fact that he was hiding behind Shaggy.

To their surprise, the guard blinked.

“‘Vince?’” he repeated. “Are you talking about Vincent Van Ghoul?”

“You bet we are!” Scrappy returned.

“What seems to be the trouble here?” a new voice asked.

“Zoinks, it’s her!” Shaggy exclaimed, pointing to the woman with the staff and shield, who was now approaching them. “She’s the one who took…” He trailed off as he saw Vincent following behind her. “…Mr. Van Ghoul?”

“…And he’s not alone…” Daphne said, going red with embarrassment to see two other familiar faces with Vincent.

“It’s Mr. Voudini and Mr. Kreepoff,” Scrappy realized, the fight going out of him and being replaced by utter confusion. They’d met Boris back in December, of course, during their run-in with Zimbulu at his studio, and they’d met Voudini nearly a year ago in New Orleans during the whole fiasco with Nekara.

“Well, this is certainly unexpected,” Voudini mused aloud. “Especially with a barrier in place…”

“…And just what are you five doing here?” Vincent asked, also clearly surprised to see them.

“Rhaggy did it,” Scooby declared, pointing at him.

“Oh, thanks a lot!” Shaggy gulped. “Like, all I know is that I saw her show up in the study just like that, and then she took Mr. Van Ghoul here. What was I supposed to think in a situation like that? I thought it was Nekara all over again, and that she was the thirteenth demon ghost!”

“Shaggy, _no_!” Vincent said, looking absolutely embarrassed now.

“I would advise you strongly to take that last statement back—or else,” Boris warned, as he and Voudini cast nervous glances at the woman.

“Huh?” the beatnik blinked.

“Shaggy, apologize to her at once!” Vincent said, urgently, and without waiting, he turned to the woman. “My Lady, please forgive him; he has no way of knowing—”

“I understand,” she said, with a serene look, and she turned to Shaggy. “You may put your mind at ease, Norville. I am not a ghost nor a demon.”

“Oh, well that’s… How did you know my real name?”

“She is Pallas Athena!” Vincent informed him.

“You mean, the Greek goddess of wisdom and light?” Daphne exclaimed. Suddenly, she felt very awkward, realizing that she was standing before a goddess in just pajamas and a robe—and her hair and makeup undone.

“The one and the same,” the winged guardsman proudly replied, before Vincent could confirm it himself.

“Ohh,” Shaggy said. It sunk in after a moment, and he suddenly stammered, pointing at her. “The g… the g…”

And without another word, he fainted on the spot, prompting Vincent to facepalm with one hand and cast a revival spell with the other.

“Talk about your first impressions,” Flim-Flam mused, before it sunk in on him, as well. “Uh… Howdy, Goddess—what can I do ya for?”

Please forgive us for intruding,” Daphne said, as she and the others now helped Shaggy back to his feet. “If we’d only known what was going on, we wouldn’t have come here—but we thought Mr. Van Ghoul was in trouble.”

“Well, I can’t fault you for that,” Pallas Athena replied, mercifully amused by what was going on. “You are quite a lucky man, Vincent.”

“…Am I?” he deadpanned, still facepalming.

“I know of very few warlocks who would have five mortals follow him blindly out of sheer concern—not to mention have said mortals successfully cross a divine barrier to follow him,” she said. “I don’t suppose there _are_ more mortals that we can expect?” She glanced at Boris and Voudini, who both shook their heads. “Very well, then—let us reconvene the meeting we had started.”

“What about the mortals?” the winged guardsman asked.

“My Lady, should I send them back?” Vincent asked.

“There’s no need for that,” Pallas Athena said. “I think they have earned the right to attend and understand why I had to take you from them.”

“As you wish, My Lady,” Vincent said, and he turned back to the gang with a sigh. “… _What_ am I going to do with you five?”

They merely shrugged in response and followed him to the temple’s inner chamber.


	2. No Mortal Man Can Win This Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mask of Medusa mentioned in this chapter is from _The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries_ episode “The Stoney Glare Stare” (and if you’re at all familiar with the episode, you’ll know exactly why Scooby is upset at the mention of it; for those who don’t know, the answer will be revealed in a future chapter). According to legend, Medusa had two older sisters, so it makes sense that they would have masks, as well.

The gang quietly took their seats in the temple’s central hall, as did the three warlocks; Athena sat at the head of the table, with her winged guardsman at her side.

“I regret that I cause you youngsters alarm by my sudden arrival in Vincent’s castle,” Pallas Athena said. “I had assumed you were all asleep.”

“You knew about us?” Scrappy asked in surprise.

“But of course,” she said. “I happen to be very invested in the lives of those in my service—Vincent most of all, given his great power.”

“So, Vince, you work for Athena?” Flim-Flam asked.

“It’s not as simple as that, but the short answer is, I do _now_ ,” Vincent replied. “An ancestor of mine approached her, seeking her blessings to master the gifts of sorcery that he had been given. Normally, Hecate is the goddess aspiring warlocks appeal to, but she is a minor goddess compared to an Olympian like Lady Pallas. But an Olympian demands a tribute of some sort, and the agreement was that my ancestor would use his magic to assist her when asked. This agreement, I regret to say, was not honored by my ancestor. And when my own skills of the magic arts seemed to rival that of my ancestor, I knew what I had to do—seek the blessings of Lady Pallas and offer to fulfill the promise my ancestor had made.”

“Ohh, so is _that_ what she meant by an old debt being repaid?” Shaggy asked.

“It is,” Pallas Athena said. “While I felt as though Vincent shouldn’t have to suffer for his ancestor’s actions, he was insistent that I call on him when needed. But I had no need—not until now. I sense numerous disturbances—activity among the forces of evil. Ordinarily, I could handle these disturbances myself, but there are so many, and, as it would happen, the timing is most inopportune, as my attentions will soon be required elsewhere. And so, I called upon Vincent at last—as well as the two companions he had been traveling with in his younger years.” She cast a glance at Boris and Voudini. “They are not in my service, but should they be ready to volunteer—”

“And I am, My Lady,” Boris said, with a bow. “Though I have no debt to you personally, I do have one to Vincent. Out of jealousy and resentment, I attempted to betray him last solstice, to try to use the Chest of Demons to increase my own power. I deeply regret these actions now. And so, I have come here to volunteer my services alongside him, with the Lady as a witness to prove my sincerity—or else.”

“Like, you think he means it?” Shaggy asked Daphne in an undertone.

“He’d better, for his sake—I’m sure that trying to scam an Olympian wouldn’t end well for him at all,” she returned.

She remembered enough about Greek mythology from school to know that the Olympians didn’t take treachery lightly, especially from mortals. Idly, Daphne wondered what Pallas Athena had done to Vincent’s ancestor for his refusal to honor the initial agreement—though Athena was more understanding than most Olympians (and had forgiven their intrusion on account how their genuine innocence), she’d had her moments, as the stories of Medusa and Arachne had proven.

“I accept the role of divine witness in your repentance, Boris,” she now said. “And you, Voudini? You owe nothing to anyone, it is true, but your services would be most appreciated.”

“My Lady, I would, under normal circumstances,” Voudini replied, with a bow. “But I no longer have my powers—Nekara, the enchantress… she drained all of my mana, and she took it with her when she was sealed in the Chest of Demons. Had it not been for Vincent transferring some of his power to me, I would not even be alive now.”

A frown crossed the goddess’s face.

“Nekara?” she repeated. “That descendant of a Gorgon, having the last laugh on one of my acolytes? This, I will not allow! Voudini, you shall be purified!”

She touched her glowing staff to Voudini’s shoulder; as the others looked on, Voudini’s hair, which had turned white after being drained by Nekara, now turned back to gray. He held his hands out in front of him, reveling as they glowed with power once again. He then bowed before the goddess.

“My Lady is most gracious and magnanimous,” he declared. “I, too, volunteer my services to your cause.”

“And I accept them,” she said.

“Do we rhave to promise, too?” Scooby wondered aloud, not sure he was ready to commit to such a thing.

But Pallas Athena merely smiled.

“You five mortals don’t need to be a part of this discussion—this is merely for your benefit to understand what Vincent will be doing for me. Whether or not you’ll take part in it is something you’ll have to take up with him, not me.”

“And we’ll get to that later,” Vincent declared, though he seemed to already know just where that discussion was going to go. “Please continue, My Lady.”

“My first task for Boris and Voudini is simple,” Athena said. “I need the two of you to search the corridors of the Labyrinth and clear it of any of the forces of evil you might find; I understand they have been using it as a stronghold; that cannot be allowed to continue. You must clear the Labyrinth.”

“It shall be done, My Lady—or else,” Boris promised.

“Indeed, My Lady,” Voudini agreed.

She nodded in satisfaction before turning to Vincent.

“And you, Vincent… Your first task involves the aforementioned Gorgons. The task is not an easy one, but one of your great power can complete it.”

“Understood, My Lady.”

“You know, of course, that there were three Gorgons—the mortal Medusa, and her immortal elder sisters, Stheno and Euryale. All three of these sisters had a mask depicting their terrifying visages—masks, like the three of them, which could be used to petrify one’s enemies—”

“Forgive me for interrupting,” Daphne said. “But are you possibly referring to the Mask of Medusa?”

“That is one of the three, yes,” Athena replied. “Do you know of it?”

“Know of it? Zoinks, like all too well!” Shaggy exclaimed, as Scooby moaned and nodded in agreement.

“We had to fight some nasty meanies who were after that mask!” Scrappy added.

“When was this?” Flim-Flam asked.

Even Vincent seemed surprised by this revelation, glancing at the gang with an arched eyebrow.

“About a year before we met you,” Daphne said. “I was covering a story about the international criminal, Thaddeus Blimp… Well, I guess that part doesn’t matter, but after we found out that he was after the Mask of Medusa and wanted to use it, we scrambled to try to find it before he did.”

“Well, where is it, then?” Vincent prompted. “That would render part of the task completed.”

“Like, we gave it to the Greek authorities,” Shaggy said, with an apologetic shrug. “We didn’t think Athena would be asking for it someday…”

“Something that dangerous, we wanted to make sure it was in the proper hands,” Daphne said. “Even if activated by accident, its powers could be devastating.”

“Well, I suppose it’s a start, anyway,” Vincent sighed. He paused, noticing Scooby now looking rather upset, and unusually quiet. But before he could address it, Pallas Athena spoke again—

“I’m afraid that finding the masks is only part of the task,” she said. “I mentioned that Medusa’s sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal? I need the two of them permanently dispatched so that they cannot ever harm another living being, which I suspect they might be planning to do.”

Vincent now turned back to the goddess, his expression completely unreadable as the significance of her words set in.

“Huh?” Daphne asked in surprise. “But if they’re supposed to be immortal, then how can we stop them?”

“Yeah—if we splatted them, they’d just get right back up again,” Scrappy mused aloud. “But there must be something we can do…”

“I am sure Lady Pallas intends that I am to use whatever means necessary to stop them,” Vincent said. He paused for a moment, as though steeling his resolve. “And I shall see the task through.”

“…Oh boy…” Shaggy gulped.

“Hey, don’t sweat it, Shaggy!” Flim-Flam chirruped. “I’m sure that between the six of us, we’ll come up with a brilliant plan on how to stop ‘em, no problem!”

“Let me rephrase my last statement,” Vincent said, a noticeable edge to his voice now. “I shall see the task through— _alone_.”

The others looked at him, stunned.

“…Alone?” Daphne repeated.

“You heard me!” Vincent quipped. “Dealing with a threat such as Gorgons requires a plan with extreme precision—the last thing I need is the five of you getting underfoot and complicating everything!”

Daphne had been stunned into silence—and by the looks of it, so had the rest of her companions—and so had Boris and Voudini, who hadn’t expected this reaction, either. Vincent had suddenly reverted to the cold and cynical man they had met at the start of their quest to recapture the 13 Ghosts—nothing at all like the warmer, practically paternal figure they had come to know these past several months.

“But… we wanna help!” Scrappy managed to say. “There’s still one more ghostie from the Chest out there, and we’ve had enough practice with the other 12 to give these Gorgons a run for their money—”

“I thought I made myself clear!” Vincent snapped.

Scrappy’s ears drooped.

“As for the final escaped ghost,” Vincent continued. “Until he shows himself, there’s nothing to be done about him—meaning that I have no further need for you five until then, and you have no further need to abandon the lives you left behind. You’re going back to the United States at once, and if and when the final ghost shows himself, _I_ will contact you. And as for _you_ …” He rounded on Flim-Flam. “You can decide whether or not you’ll go with them, or return to the village in Tibet—you have fifteen minutes to decide.”

“Vince…!” The boy looked as though he’d been gutted.

“Mr. Van Ghoul, _please_ reconsider!” Daphne pleaded. “Don’t do this to us! Even if we’ve never dealt with the likes of Gorgons before, we have, at least, handled one of their masks! We could help with that—!”

“ _Enough_!” Vincent ordered. “I need to speak with Lady Pallas privately—as I said, you have fifteen minutes.”

Pallas Athena, who had watched the whole scene unfold in utter silence with an unreadable expression, now departed from the table with Vincent.

“I merely speak from the position of an impartial observer,” the goddess said. “But that seemed to be rather harsh.”

“It had to be, My Lady,” Vincent returned. “Against all better judgement, all this time, I had allowed myself to get sentimental over those five. To continue to do so could mean disaster for them.”

“I see,” she replied. “But do you think that a separation as harsh as this isn’t a disaster for them, in another form? …And perhaps, a disaster for you, as well?”

She glanced pointedly at the gang, and Vincent followed her gaze; Scooby and Scrappy still had their ears drooped (though Scooby had been upset ever since the masks had been mentioned), Flim-Flam was uncharacteristically subdued, Shaggy looked both hurt and confused, and Daphne just looked blankly at the table as Voudini spoke to them, with Boris right behind him.

Vincent now looked away.

“It has to be done, My Lady. Allowing any room for discussion—allowing them to beg me to change my mind, or allowing for any sort of drawn-out goodbye—and I might not be able to see it through. Already, I can feel my resolve weakening.”

The goddess didn’t respond; instead, she continued to pay attention to the discussion back at the table.

“When this whole thing started, I wanted nothing more than to go home,” Shaggy was saying. “But then we got used to it. And now we’re actually going home, and, like… nothing about it feels right.”

“Because of how it’s happening,” Daphne said, her voice quiet. “I don’t understand… After everything we’ve been through together, as a team—he’s saved us and we’ve saved him—I thought he knew he was one of us.” She and Vincent had once had a long talk on the matter, after the gang had broken Rankor’s petrification curse that had been cast on him; though the stubborn warlock had refused to admit it outright, he had, at least, seemed to have accepted it. After all, hadn’t he let them stay at his castle all this time? Daphne wanted to believe that acting cold towards them moments ago had only been an act—it had to be, it just simply _had_ to be! Nothing else made sense…!

“You have to understand Vincent’s point of view,” Voudini said, gently. “The Gorgons are not to be taken lightly. Nekara was merely a descendent of them, and you saw what she was able to do to Vincent and myself. Making eye contact with her put us under a temporary love trance—but to make eye contact with a full-blooded Gorgon will result in permanent petrification that only a proper counterspell can reverse.”

Scooby whimpered, and Shaggy gently placed a hand on his shoulder before turning his attention back to Boris, who spoke up.

“There’s another reason why Vincent is pushing you away,” Boris informed them. “It’s the same reason why he pushed Voudini and myself away centuries ago, despite the three of us being inseparable during our school days. After our graduation in the year of 36, we traveled together for quite a long while, and even then, Vincent’s powers had no equal, but there were many other magicians who had to test that out for themselves.”

“We’d been camped on a mountainside in a faraway dimension,” Voudini recalled. “We were then attacked by an enemy warlock who claimed to be the most powerful mage in that dimension—he had sensed Vincent’s great power and had felt that his own power had been threatened, especially since Vincent was so young at the time. And so, this warlock attacked us, completely out of the blue.”

“Naturally, Vincent did not take too kindly to being ambushed in such a manner,” Boris continued. “Rather than draw out the duel with our attacker, Vincent decided to cast the most powerful spell he knew to teach him a lesson— _Ultima_.”

“Did it work?” Flim-Flam asked.

“Too well,” Voudini sighed. “Vincent defeated the enemy warlock—who just barely managed to survive and was wise enough to flee. But he also vaporized a giant hole in the mountaintop in the process.”

“Zoinks…!” Shaggy exclaimed.

“The three of us were banished from the land by the king after that incident,” Boris added. “We made it back to our dimension—but something had changed in Vincent that day. He became much more distant towards the two of us after that.”

“We had been in blast radius, after all,” Voudini said. “We managed to teleport in the nick of time, but Vincent had been horrified at the thought of us being collateral damage. Vincent became a lot more withdrawn after that, and he tried to avoid using offensive spells from that day forward.”

“So that’s why he usually just sticks to teleporting,” Scrappy realized. “Gee, I never stopped to think about why he did that…”

“His great power is a gift—and a curse,” Voudini agreed. “Even simple spells end up being more powerful than he intends. And the nature of the tasks that Lady Pallas is assigning us requires that we use offensive magic. And you, being mortals with no magical abilities, would not be able to teleport as Boris and I were able to.”

“…You mean…?” Daphne began.

“He may be worried about the Gorgons harming you,” Boris agreed. “But he’s also equally worried, if not moreso, about unintentionally hurting _you_ with _his_ magic.”

“But, like, if that’s what all this is about, then why couldn’t he just tell us this instead of snarling at us?” Shaggy asked.

“If I know Vincent as well as I do, this is just as difficult for him as it is for you,” Voudini answered. “Perhaps this is his way of trying to make it easier for him—by trying to convince himself he doesn’t care as much as he does.”

“Then, there’s a chance he could change his mind?” Daphne said.

“Yes—and I think that terrifies him,” Voudini stated, bluntly. “After all the time he’s spent alone…”

Whatever Voudini was about to say, they never found out, for Vincent and Athena returned to the table.

“Well, Flim-Flam?” he asked, once again with an icy demeanor.

“I’m sticking with them,” Flim-Flam returned, pointedly glaring back at him. “Because that’s what we do—stick together.”

Vincent ignored the barb and responded by taking out his crystal ball, preparing to activate it.

“Mr. Van Ghoul, I know why you’re doing this,” Daphne said. “I’m not going to believe that everything we’ve been through meant nothing to you. We know the truth, and you know it, too. We just want to help you, and I know that, deep down, you want to accept our help, and I’m sure if we just think about it, we’d find a way for you to use your magic without putting us in danger—”

“Are you quite through with your prattling?” he interrupted.

Even if this was an act, he was doing a very good job of sounding as though he didn’t care, and it still hurt.

“I’m not, but I don’t think it matters; your mind is made up.”

“Yes, just as your minds were made about your friends—Fred and Velma,” Vincent returned. “After everything you have surely been through with them, you still insisted on keeping _them_ out of the loop.”

Daphne froze. He’d done it—he’d struck a nerve and had stated his winning argument, and she had no defense against it. And she was furious at him for it.

Satisfied by her silence, Vincent turned his attention back to the crystal ball, at least until Scooby finally spoke for the first time since the masks were mentioned—

“Rexcuse me, Mr. Van Ghoul?”

“ _What_?” he asked, sharply, looking up for a moment. He looked surprised to see a few tears in the Great Dane’s eyes.

“…Please be careful,” the dog said.

Vincent still hadn’t figured out why Scooby had been so subdued and upset since the mention of the Gorgons’ masks, and if he hadn’t been trying to seem cold, he would’ve inquired as to the reason for Scooby’s distress. As it was, he would have to let them cheer Scooby up without him.

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Vincent returned. “And we’ve drawn this out for long enough. Goodbye.” He activated the crystal ball and, in the blink of an eye, they were gone. And Vincent then rounded on Voudini and Boris. “And you two just _had_ to tell them about my duel!?”

“ _You_ should have told them—about the duel, and about how Mortifer’s death still weighs on you, even after all this time!” Voudini countered, taking Vincent by surprise. “After everything those youngsters have done for you, you owed them a proper explanation and a proper goodbye—they didn’t even deserve to be sent back! But after the way you just treated them, I’m amazed they still wanted to stay!”

“Be prepared for _them_ to resent you next,” Boris warned. “You’re pushing them away as you did to Voudini and me. The ginger one—Daphne, was it? Did you see the glare she was giving you?”

“She’ll get over it—they all will,” Vincent returned. “Even if they do end up resenting me for it, at least they’ll be alive to do it.”

“Whether or not they resent you, you still owed them more than what you gave them,” Voudini frowned. “You didn’t see what I saw in New Orleans, Vincent—those youngsters had been prepared to move Heaven and Earth to make sure that Nekara didn’t drain your powers. Neither of us would be standing here now had it not been for them making sure you weren’t drained, which allowed you to then save me.”

“What are you trying to say—that I can’t face the Gorgons without them?” Vincent scoffed.

“I am saying that you have spent so much time alone that you have come to accept that as your default, and you are therefore failing hideously at recognizing how valuable a thing you’re casting aside,” Voudini answered.

Vincent looked away.

“Perhaps it’s better for it to be cast aside than utterly destroyed,” he said. “I am more aware of what occurred in New Orleans than you realize, Voudini. Nekara may have had me in her trance, but I had moments of clarity—moments when she was trying to convince me to use my powers against those kids to stop them from interfering. …It took every scrap of free will I had left to resist. I can’t risk anything else happening to them—they’d be too helpless against either the Gorgons or any collateral effects of my powers, as you so wisely pointed out to them not too long ago.”

“Yes, so helpless that they managed to breach a divine barrier to follow you here,” Boris reminded him. “We still don’t know how, but we do know why—because they thought you needed help.”

“…Don’t the two of you have somewhere to go?” Vincent asked, now ducking the conversation.

“We do,” Voudini replied, sensing a lost cause. “Follow me, Boris—we must make haste to the Labyrinth.” He paused. “Take care, Vincent. I hope you know what you’re doing.” He turned to Pallas Athena, who was still standing by her winged guardsman. “By your leave, My Lady…”

He and Boris both bowed to her and teleported out.

“I had best be off as well, My Lady,” Vincent said.

He could feel the goddess’s gaze upon him, as though silently assessing him after what she had just witnessed.

“Very well,” she said at last, after a moment. “But they are right, you know. Mortals don’t simply breach a divine barrier just like that. And they have no magical powers of their own that would suggest how they could have accomplished such a thing. …Just something for you to consider as you go about your tasks.”

Vincent wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but he took his leave of Athena and first returned to his castle, placing his crystal ball back on its stand in his study, which was still the same as he had left it.

“They _would_ probably try triangulating the crystals again,” Vincent muttered. He would have to leave his crystal here as a result of that.

He was just leaving his study when he noticed the broken saucer on the corridor floor, and the spilled shortbread. …Of course, that must’ve been where Shaggy had been standing when he had seen Pallas Athena appear in the study—and where he had dropped the saucer in a panic after he’d seen them vanish. The beatnik was not one to waste food normally; he must have been quite concerned, and so had the others…

Vincent forced himself to halt that train of thought; the deed was done, and he couldn’t afford to get sentimental again…

…Even though he was already beginning to regret what he had done.


	3. The Day Will Dawn of Sanity

It had been a while since Daphne had found herself back in the house she owned (well, technically owned by her parents, as their names were on the deed, as well). It had been her home base when she had started her journalism career, and it had continued to be for the start of their quest to recapture the 13 ghosts, at least until Vincent had allowed them to stay at his castle. Of course, Vincent had insisted that was over now—as if to cement that fact, not only had they been teleported back to her living room, but all of their bag and baggage that they’d been keeping at the castle had been transported here, as well.

“…He really kicked us out,” Flim-Flam said, his voice a little shaky. “I didn’t actually think he’d really do it, but he did. Before you guys showed up, he kept saying he’d send me off somewhere if I ‘didn’t stop pestering’ him, but he never did.”

“Probably because he didn’t want to send you away without having someone there to look after you,” Daphne said. She glanced at the armchair in the living room; during the times when Vincent had stayed here, he had more or less claimed it for himself.

“Gee, I miss him already,” Scrappy sighed.

“Like, we all do,” Shaggy added.

“Rou think he’s gonna be rhokay?” Scooby asked.

“Oh, he’ll be okay,” Daphne said; now it was her turn to have an edge to her voice. “He’s the most powerful warlock in the world—why _wouldn’t_ he be okay!? Just because we’ve had to bail him out of trouble before, _twice_ , why wouldn’t he be okay!?”

She frowned. She was still hurt, but, more than that, she was still furious with him for bringing up Fred and Velma in that way…

…Even if it _was_ true.

“You okay, Daphne?” Shaggy asked.

“What Vincent said about us keeping Fred and Velma out of the loop—it’s not at all like what he just did to us, right!?” she returned. “We _begged_ him to let us stay, and he just pushed us away—but Fred and Velma never begged us. We just… didn’t tell them. But if they _had_ found out somehow and begged to help… we’d have let them, wouldn’t we? Because at the end of the day, we’re a team, right?”

Shaggy exchanged glances with Scooby and Scrappy.

“…I don’t really know,” Shaggy admitted. “We never really brought it up in discussions. Look, we’re all on edge here—why don’t I order some pizzas for us? We’ll eat, we’ll calm down, and maybe figure out what to do next—always works for me.”

“…Right…” Daphne sighed. “Scrappy, why don’t you and Flim-Flam see if there are any snacks that haven’t expired?”

“Sure!” the puppy exclaimed, cheering up slightly. “C’mon, Flim!”

The two headed for the kitchen as Shaggy headed for the phone to place the pizza order. Daphne noticed that Scooby, who normally would be excited at the prospect of food, was still very upset.

“Scooby?” she asked.

“Rhi don’t want Mr. Van Ghoul to become a statue again,” Scooby whimpered.

“Well, he almost did—but you saved him before he actually did, remember? Just like you saved all of us from the Mask of Medusa.”

“But Rhi caused it!” Scooby howled. “Rhi activated the mask and opened the Chest! And Rankor and Nekara got Mr. Van Ghoul! Maybe… Maybe rhat’s why he sent us away—so Rhi wouldn’t mess things up again!”

So that was it—guilt, and lots of it.

Shaggy, who had just finished placing the order, now went back to his friend’s side to comfort him.

“Scoob, ol’ buddy, don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said. “You didn’t mean for any of those things to happen.”

“That’s right—they were all just accidents,” Daphne said. “And Mr. Van Ghoul knows that—well, about Rankor and Nekara anyway. And anyway, look who you’re talking to—old ‘Danger-Prone Daphne,’ remember?”

“And like, I opened the Chest along with you,” Shaggy reminded him. “So, if anything, he should’ve been mad at me, too.” He sighed. “…Well, when this whole thing started, he _was_ mad at the both of us, wasn’t he? Man, when he was snarling at us back there at the temple, it was like nothing had changed. Do you really think what Mr. Voudini said was true—that he was only acting like that to make it easier for him to send us back?”

“I know it’s true,” Daphne said. “But it some ways, that almost makes it worse—he must’ve known how we’d feel about it and how hurt we’d be, but he’d just get to pretend that he didn’t care…” She frowned again. “And then he just _had_ to bring up Fred and Velma! He _knew_ how guilty I felt about lying to them…!” Even if she knew why he’d said that, she couldn’t help but feel a bit betrayed, especially since that was something she had confessed in a private conversation with the warlock. Maybe that was why she was so upset with him—not because he had made such a good point, but because it was something that she had taken him into her confidence with.

“…Daphne?” Shaggy and Scooby both asked, in unison.

“…I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m just going to be upset about this for a while. But I will be alright.”

“Okay,” Shaggy said, though he still looked concerned. “I guess I’ll be fine, too—though, like, I’m just more confused than upset. But I guess that’s normal for me.” He turned to Scooby. “How about you, Buddy?”

“Rheah, I’ll be rhokay, too.”

Shaggy managed a smile and drew an arm around the dog again.

But none of the five mortals in the house were aware that they were being spied on from outside by two mischievous spirits—Bogel and Weerd, the two who had been the ones to trick Shaggy and Scooby into opening the Chest of Demons in the first place.

“Oooh, very interesting,” Weerd murmured.

“What is?” Bogel asked.

“Weren’t you paying any attention at all to what they were saying?” Weird said, rolling his eyes.

“No—I thought you were.”

Weerd gave him a dark look.

“Well, if you _had_ been paying attention, you would’ve heard them say that Van Ghoul kicked them out of his castle—sending them all here while he takes care of some other business.”

“Oh,” Bogel said. “Well, that wasn’t very nice of him, was it? You would expect that a great sorcerer would—”

“Will you shut up!? Don’t you understand what this means!?”

“Sure—Van Ghoul’s just plain rude.”

“ _No_!”

“Well, he’s hardly polite,” Bogel scoffed.

“It means, Dummy, that those kids are going to be so sore at Van Ghoul for what he did to them, that we might just be able to swoop in and convince them to switch sides!” Weerd exclaimed. “Or at the very least, they’ll let us take the Chest!”

“…You really think so?”

“Sure, why not? Everyone knows that everyone always looks out for themselves,” Weerd said. “These kids will know it, too. We’ll start on the redhead—she’s the leader, and she seems to be the one most upset at Van Ghoul for what he did—she’ll be the one who’ll want to get back at him, like old Kreepoff did. We’ll wait and make our move when she’s alone!”

******************************

The pizzas arrived soon afterwards, and between those and the snacks that Scrappy and Flim-Flam found, they had themselves a filling dinner. Shaggy had turned the radio on, which they listened to as they ate.

Daphne found herself slightly distracted by the music after a while.

“Something on your mind, Daphne?” Scrappy asked.

“I was just remembering the first time we had the radio going off in the castle,” she said, with a wan smile.

“Zoinks, how could anyone forget that?” Shaggy replied. “Especially with Mr. Van Ghoul running in, exclaiming ‘What in the name of Pan is that din!?’”

“Well, _you_ were the one who answered, ‘the Top 40,’” Daphne teased. “He actually didn’t know how to reply to that one!”

Even Scooby giggled at that.

“Yup, that’s old Vince for ya,” Flim-Flam said. He sighed, sobering. “I wonder what he’s doing now.”

“Probably holding an epic battle against those Gorgons,” Scrappy mused.

“No, he’d do the logical thing and try to find the masks first—that’s the part of the task that’s easily completable,” Daphne said. “Logic, logic, logic. That’s the most important thing for him, after all.”

“Rhaww, Daphne…”

“I’ll be fine, Scooby,” she assured him. She stood up, picking up her plate from the coffee table. “Well, guess I’ll start loading the dishwasher. Are you guys done eating?”

“Like, you gotta be kidding,” Shaggy returned.

Scooby shook his head, as well, grabbing another slice of pizza.

“Alright, anyone who is finished, let me have your plates.”

Only Scrappy and Flim-Flam did, and she took the plates to the kitchen and placed them in the dishwasher; she’d start it later, she decided, after Shaggy and Scooby finally finished…

She turned and gasped as she found Bogel and Weerd in her kitchen.

“What are you doing here!?” she demanded.

“We come in peace, O Mortal Who Has Been so Grievously Wronged!” Bogel exclaimed.

“Yes, we’re here to provide comforting shoulders to you and your companions after the horrible way you were treated by that nasty warlock,” Weerd agreed.

“…Oh, really?” Daphne asked, folding her arms. “I didn’t realize word got around so quickly.”

“Oh, when it comes to treachery and betrayal, we are there!” Weerd boasted.

“Yeah, we’re experts!” Bogel added, prompting Weerd to give him a look.

“Well, thanks, but no thanks—I think my friends and I can cope with our situation just fine,” Daphne said.

“Cope? _Cope_?” Weerd repeated. “Bogel, did you hear this poor child? She wants to cope—after everything that old ingrate put her through!”

“Oh, she is so blinded in her faith despite how she and her friends were cast aside like old shoes!” Bogel bemoaned. “Oh, it’s enough to make a grown ghost cry!”

“Stiff upper, My Friend, stiff upper,” Weerd said, placing a hand on Bogel’s shoulder. “There’s every chance we can make her see the light!”

Daphne stared at them, unimpressed.

“Is there a point to this routine…?”

“A point? Absolutely, there is a point!” Weerd explained. “You’ve spent over a year doing whatever Van Ghoul told you to do—and for what? Nothing. Nada. Just some emotional manipulation, complete with him throwing your own words back at you—words you had told him under the understanding of utter secrecy.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” she frowned.

“How, pray tell, does that make you feel?” Bogel queried.

“Hurt,” she admitted.

“Hurt, yes,” Weerd sighed. “But perhaps angry, too?”

“Well…”

“Perhaps even… a bit _vengeful_?”

“…What…?” Daphne asked.

“We make it no secret that we despise the man,” Weerd said. “Why do you think we were trying to help Nekara get rid of him? Or pulling a last-minute switch to ensure that Rankor’s curse would finish him off? We _knew_ this would happen to you kids—we were just trying to spare you! You know what the word ‘warlock’ means? It’s from the antiquated phrase _wærloga_ —and _that_ means ‘Oathbreaker.’ And if that ain’t exactly what he did to you by twisting those words you trusted him with, then I don’t know what is.”

“Now that you have seen what it is like on Van Ghoul’s side,” Bogel said, shaking his head in pity. “You should realize that no matter what you do, it will never be good enough for _him_. The way he just threw you aside like yesterday’s news? That’s all you’re ever going to get from him—and _that_ is on a _good_ day.”

“My associate is right,” Weerd said. “You don’t owe that old geezer anything after how he treated you. He broke your trust in him first. Now, if you and your friends came over to our side, not only would we appreciate you, we won’t leave you high and dry, either. I bet you could even gain the favor of the 12 ghosts you captured—once they see that you were led astray by Van Ghoul, they’ll welcome you, too.”

Daphne’s gobsmacked stare now changed to a look of absolute fury.

“How _dare_ you!?” she fumed. “Even though I _am_ hurt by what Vincent said and did, that doesn’t mean I would ever betray _him_ —and certainly _never_ put him in any danger!” She started grabbing things from her pockets and hurled them at the two ghosts; the items phased right through them, but they were still highly alarmed by her reaction. “If I ever see you here again, the only thing you’ll see of the Chest of Demons is the inside of it! Now get out of my house— _get out_!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” they both yelped, and just as they phased out of the kitchen, Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and the dogs barreled in.

“Daphne, what happened!?” Shaggy asked.

“Oh, it was those two ghosts that always try to trip us up!” she fumed. “They tried to tell me that we should get back at Mr. Van Ghoul by joining them and the 13 ghosts! Even if he _is_ an Oathbreaker, I could never…!”

Daphne trailed off; she had stepped forward to pick up the things she had thrown at the ghosts, and her foot had stepped on the edge of something golden—as she picked it up, she realized it was the amulet that Vincent had given her in Marrakesh to protect her and the others from the Reflector Specter. Even though its task had ended and it was no longer useful, she’d kept it with her all this time.

“…He wouldn’t have made sure we’d gotten that amulet if he hadn’t cared,” Shaggy thought aloud. “And that was when he was just starting to not be mad at us.”

Daphne nodded, staring at the amulet in her hand.

“…We have to find him,” she said, after a moment.

“Wait, really? We’re going to catch up with him?” Flim-Flam asked, perking up.

“Glad to see you got over being mad,” Scrappy said.

“Oh, I’m still mad,” Daphne admitted. “But it doesn’t change what Shaggy said—that Mr. Van Ghoul _does_ care for us. Just like we care for him. That ghost was wrong—we _do_ owe something to him. And _he_ owes something to _us_.”

“Rhe does?” Scooby asked. “What’s rhat?”

“One more chance,” Daphne answered. “We have a point to prove—that we can keep up with him better than he thinks we can—that we can actually help him. And besides…” She sighed. “If we stand around here doing nothing, one of two things can happen. Worst case scenario: he fails his mission. Best case scenario: he completes his mission, and Athena assigns him another one, which will take him to places unknown. Either way, we’ll probably never see him again.”

Scooby whimpered.

“But, like, we don’t even know where he is _now_!” Shaggy pointed out. “What makes you think we can find him when we have nothing to go on?”

“But we _do_ have something to go on, Shaggy!” Daphne exclaimed. “The Mask of Medusa! At some point or another, Mr. Van Ghoul has to get it!”

“But it’s like I told him—we don’t know where the mask is!” Shaggy returned.

“But we know someone who _does_ know—Anna!”

“Of course!” Scrappy exclaimed. “The Greek Intelligence agent we gave the Mask to! Even if she doesn’t know herself, she knows who to ask to find out!”

“I get it!” Flim-Flam exclaimed. “If we get the mask before Vince, that’ll prove to him that we’re worth having around!”

“Exactly,” Daphne said. She looked around at her friends. “This could get dangerous, though… especially if we do end up following Mr. Van Ghoul right to the Gorgons. Whoever’s going, it’s going to be on a fully volunteer basis.”

“Well, you know I’m in!” Flim-Flam promised.

“Yeah, of course we are!” Scrappy exclaimed. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Scooby?”

Scooby glanced at his nephew, and then to Shaggy, who was also clearly thinking about it. There was no denying he wanted to be here, where it was safe, but… they had to try to help their friend who had done so much for them already.

“What do you say, Scoob? For Mr. V?”

“Rheah!” Scooby replied. “Rhet’s go!”

“Then it’s unanimous,” Daphne said. “Let’s head to Athens!”


	4. This Rage that Lasts a Thousand Years

They had called ahead before getting ahold of their private plane (Vincent had teleported _that_ back to the nearest hangar, clearly assuming that they wouldn’t dare go against his instructions) and heading for Athens, fueled by caffeine and by concern for their mentor. They wasted no time upon arrival, meeting with Anna in her regional office, having abandoned her old cover as a taverna owner after the mask had been found and Thaddeus Blimp and his lackeys arrested.

“It is good to see you again, Miss Blake,” she said. “But I don’t quite understand why you are suddenly asking about the Mask of Medusa two years after that case was closed.”

“Oh, it’s a long story, Anna,” Daphne said, apologetically. “And I’m afraid we don’t have time for the full-length version. But the short version is that the Mask of Medusa is too dangerous to be left lying around, even in a safe or archive somewhere. I know it’s an antiquity, and it’s got immense historical value… but you’ve seen the power of the Mask yourself. If something happened, and it was taken and then _used_ …”

“It would be a disastrous scenario,” Anna agreed. “But the Mask is well-guarded.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Shaggy sighed. “The kind of guys that are after it won’t care about locks or guards.”

“Someone is after the Mask?”

“A whole bunch of someones could potentially be after it, if our source was accurate,” Daphne said.

“Our source was the Goddess Athena—I’m pretty sure it was accurate,” Flim-Flam intoned.

Daphne shushed him and turned back to Anna.

“I… I know it sounds hard to believe,” Daphne said. “But one of the someones after the Mask right now is working for Athena to obtain the three Masks of the Gorgons to give to her—so she can destroy them before anyone with ill intentions gets to them.”

“It sounds too incredible, and yet, the look in your eyes tells me that you believe it to be true,” Anna noted. “Just where do you and your friends fit in?”

“Well, we want to help the one who Athena sent to get the masks,” Daphne said. “He… doesn’t know we’re here, though.”

“Yeah, we were hoping to surprise him!” Scrappy said.

“Like, he’ll be surprised, alright,” Shaggy mused.

“Can you relp us?” Scooby asked.

Anna sighed.

“You must understand my position,” she said. “I cannot hand over an ancient artifact just like that, especially when you say it will be destroyed. On the other hand, as you say, I know what the Mask of Medusa is capable of—and if it must be destroyed to prevent it from being used again, then I feel that need is greater. I will help you, but I will be limited in the kind of help I can give you.”

“We’ll take whatever help you can give us,” Daphne said.

“I know where the Mask of Medusa has been stored,” she said. “I can take you to the archives of the National Archaeological Museum here in Athens, and after that, I will look the other way and leave. Once I leave, you are on your own; I can no longer be involved—and if you get into trouble, I cannot help you.”

“That’s fair,” Daphne agreed. “Believe me, you’ll be helping us so much just by doing this.”

Anna nodded, and soon, they were all in her car, heading for the museum.

“…How is it that you ended up crossing paths with someone working for Athena?” she asked, as they maneuvered through the roads. “The Old Gods had their time, it is true, but I didn’t think they still had active devotees.”

“Well, like I said, it’s a long story,” Daphne said.

“You are sure that his intentions are pure?” Anna asked.

“His intentions? Absolutely,” Daphne assured her. “How he goes about it, however… not so much.”

Once again, the word _Oathbreaker_ returned to Daphne’s consciousness; she hadn’t taken Weerd at face value, of course—she had done her research before they’d left for Athens and had been dismayed to find out that the ghost’s words had been true about the origin of the word warlock…

“Believe us, Anna,” Shaggy said. “Like, our friend has been the one thing keeping most things from going out of control in the past year after… well, after some evil spirits got loose.”

Considering Anna had seen the aftermath of Scooby’s accidental activation of the Mask, Shaggy decided it was best not to let her know the exact circumstances of what happened with the Chest.

“And you are willing to handle the Mask of Medusa again to help him, knowing what it can do?” Anna asked. She shook her head. “I hope your friend appreciates the trouble you are going through.”

“…Well, no—but nobody’s perfect,” Flim-Flam sighed.

Daphne’s expression darkened, but she didn’t say anything.

Scooby sighed as they drew closer to the museum; he certainly didn’t want to see the Mask of Medusa again, but if it meant a chance to see Vincent again, then he’d put up with it for a little while, at least.

As they drove up to the museum, however, Anna suddenly stopped the car; the place was already surrounded by police and some of Anna’s coworkers in Intelligence, as though something had happened.

“Uh-oh…” Scrappy said. “I don’t like the looks of this…”

“I just hope this isn’t what I think it is…” Daphne fretted, as they all got out of the car. Deep down, however, she knew it was.

Anna now spoke to one of her coworkers, who indicated a distraught museum worker, and explained something in Greek. The museum worker also said something, and then held her hand high over her head, as though indicating someone very tall.

“…That’s gotta be Vince they’re talking about,” Flim-Flam intoned.

Anna now returned to the gang with a grim expression.

“The Mask of Medusa has been stolen,” she said, confirming what Daphne had feared. “…No doors or windows were broken into, and nothing was picked up on the security cameras—but one of the staff had been working in the archives late and saw someone take the Mask and vanish right in front of her eyes. For the sake of all of us, I pray that it was your friend who, as you say, works for Athena. The thief stood in the shadows, and so the witness didn’t get a good look at his features—only that he was dressed in black, and, to quote our witness, he was ‘built like a tree.’”

“…Called it,” Flim-Flam sighed.

“Like, that’s him,” Shaggy agreed.

“How long ago did this happen?” Daphne asked, her expression unreadable now that her brilliant plan to prove her point had just fallen flat.

“Twenty minutes ago,” Anna said, apologetically. “I am sorry; you just missed your friend. If I had been faster…”

“No…” Daphne said, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach. “It’s alright—you did the best you could. If we had just been a little earlier in getting here, we’d have made it in time, and now… Now, we have no idea where he could be. That was our one chance, and now he’s gone off somewhere to get the other two Masks, and we have no idea where they could possibly be.”

“Rhe were so close…” Scooby whined.

“So, like, what now?” Shaggy asked, as he comforted his canine friend again. “Go home?”

Daphne gritted her teeth. She hated to admit defeat when they had very nearly succeeded, but what other option did they have? There was no telling where Vincent could have gone now, unless…

“The other two masks…” she said. “Anna, please—can you tell us anything about the where the other two masks might possibly be!? A legend, a rumor— _anything_!”

“…I do know the legend of the three Gorgons’ Masks,” Anna said. “After Medusa was slain, her sisters were devastated; Euryale wept inconsolably—it is said that her cries pierced the heart of any who heard them. The Cyclops who had guarded the Mask of Medusa on his island is said to have been so moved by Euryale’s cries, he left his cave and tended to her. When she opted to go into hiding, she gave him her mask, the Mask of Euryale, which he took with him to Sicily—where his fellow Cyclops brethren are said to have lived for centuries.”

“So that’s why the Cave of the Cyclops didn’t have a real Cyclops when we investigated it,” Scrappy realized. “The real Cyclops had already left, and that let Professor Mikos dress up as the Cyclops to try to scare us off!”

“Never mind that—now we know where to go!” Daphne said. “Sicily is our last chance to catch up with Mr. Van Ghoul!”

“No, it isn’t; I didn’t tell you about Stheno,” Anna said. “While Euryale was lost in grief, Stheno was lost in rage—and the wish for revenge. She blamed Athena for her sister’s death, and so, she sought to ravage this very city—Athens, City of Athena. She was ready to lay waste to Athens, but Athena’s forces rallied against her to protect the city’s people and drive Stheno away. Stheno retreated into hiding as Euyale did, but it is said that, so as to spite Athena, she hid her mask, the Mask of Stheno, somewhere here in Athens, so that a part of her would always blemish Athena’s city. She then enlisted a powerful Chimera, ordering it to attack anyone who tried to remove the mask from its hiding place.”

“A Chimera?” Scrappy asked. “Isn’t that one of those beasties that’s a mishmash of different creatures?”

“Descriptions of the Chimera vary over the course of time,” Anna replied. “But yes, the Chimera is made up of the head and torso of a lion, the lower body of an ungulate, and, in some descriptions, two humanlike arms. Other descriptions claim it has the tail of a snake. Regardless, the Chimera is said to have the ability to spit fire that causes painful burns.”

“So… you think our friend is still here in Athens, looking for the Mask of Stheno?” Daphne asked.

“If the legend is true, then this city is where the Mask should be,” she agreed. “I hope you find your friend—and that you all go unscathed by both the Mask and the Chimera.”

“Like, thanks, Anna—for everything,” Shaggy said.

She nodded, wished them good luck once more, and now joined her coworkers investigating; Daphne assumed she was planning to cover any tracks Vincent may have left—she was grateful for that, even if it wasn’t likely.

With a sigh, Daphne now led the others down the street, as though hoping they’d see the Mask of Stheno (or Vincent looking for it) in an alley somewhere.

“I don’t know if it’s worth trying to look for the Mask of Stheno here,” she said, after some time. “Vincent probably already knows exactly where in Athens it is, just like he knew where the Mask of Medusa was—he’s probably teleported there already. If we want to intercept him, maybe we should just try to head him off in Sicily. He probably knows exactly where in Sicily the Mask of Euryale is, too, but at least we’ll have time to look for it in Sicily rather than scramble for the Mask of Stheno here—if we tried that now, it’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine he’d stick around—” Shaggy began, but he was cut off by the sound of a tremendous roar echoing from the top of the Acropolis of Athens—followed by a large flare of fire shooting up into the air from the Acropolis. “ _Zoinks_!”

“Rhat was _that_!?” Scooby yelped.

“…Offhand, I’d say _that’s_ our needle in the haystack,” Flim-Flam said, a look of alarm on his face.

“…Anna _did_ say that the Chimera was a big meanie that can breathe fire, didn’t she…?” Scrappy added.

Daphne didn’t need to think any longer on it.

“Come on!” she ordered, running towards the Acropolis.

*******************************

Vincent was no stranger to traveling alone—he had done so for centuries without a second thought. But the last year had changed things for him just as much as it had changed them for his young apprentices…

… _Former apprentices_ , he reminded himself.

And it wasn’t easy to remind himself of that. Indeed, upon arriving in Athens and seeing the city once again, teeming with history and stories that he had known from countless centuries past, he had, by force of habit, glanced over his shoulder to regale his little patchwork family with tales of Old Athens… only to see no one standing behind him.

That had hurt _far_ more than he had cared to admit, and he’d had to remind himself that all of this, every bit of this, was for their own safety—so that they would not suffer the same fate Mortifer had.

And with that established, he would have to focus on his mission.

Having left his crystal ball behind, Vincent had required a new means of scrying to find the location of the three Gorgons’ Masks by using some shards of mirror and a locator spell—and after several hours of concentrating and focusing the Second Sight, he had been pleased to see that two of the three Masks were here in Athens.

The Mask of Medusa, naturally, had been the easiest to recover; sitting idly in the archives of the museum, Vincent had retrieved it without any trouble at all. But as he stood there, holding the artifact in his hands, a part of him couldn’t help but point out that the Mask’s easy access was on account of Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy having dealt with the Mask two years prior to this.

Even when no longer a part of things, they had _still_ found a way to help him…

A shrill gasp had brought Vincent back to the present, realizing that he’d been spotted by someone working in the museum archives. He had teleported out in an instant; all he needed to do was pick up the Mask of Stheno at the Acropolis, and he could leave Athens behind without any trace.

It was fortunate that the Acropolis was closed to tourists in the night hours; he could teleport in unobserved and search for the Mask of Stheno—the mirror shards had shown it to be underground, and after taking one of the mirror shards and using it to scry once more, the shard pointed towards the ruins of the Parthenon—once a proud temple built in Pallas Athena’s honor, it had fallen after many centuries before sustaining catastrophic damage in the 17th century. Vincent had seen it in its better days, of course—it had been there, in his younger years, that he had sought the blessings of the goddess.

There was something vaguely unnerving about seeing it like this—perhaps in relation as to just how old he was in order to be able to remember the temple’s glory days. Nevertheless, he had pushed the thought aside, realizing that the Mask seemed to be in an as-of-yet undiscovered tunnel chamber directly beneath the Parthenon.

The most difficult part was finding a place to tunnel into it; shifting the earth too close to the temple would run the risk of destroying what was left—and he certainly had no intentions of further destroying the temple of his patron goddess.

He had found his entryway a safe distance away and followed the tunnel to the underground chamber, illuminating his way forward by casting a glow from the emerald brooch he wore, and it was there, in the chamber, that he had found the Mask—and, from the dim light of the emerald, he had also seen the eyeshine of the Chimera guarding it.

He stopped the light from the gemstone at once, and, even in the pitch-darkness, he could feel the Chimera’s gaze upon him. He could hear the beast sniffing, trying to pinpoint his location by using its other senses.

Thinking quickly, Vincent used a levitation spell to bring the Mask over to him, but it was as he grabbed it that his elbow brushed against the wall of the tunnel—and the Chimera heard it.

The next sound Vincent heard was the sound of a sword being removed from its scabbard, and Vincent’s response was to immediately teleport out of the tunnel chamber and aboveground, onto the floor of the Parthenon.

He had waited for any sign of movement, but sensed none. Perhaps the Chimera was still trying to track him down inside the chamber.

He walked away from the Parthenon ruins, aiming to use the mirror shards to scry the location of the final Mask when he suddenly felt something beneath his feet—and he leaped away only just in time as the Chimera leaped from the underground, sword aimed upwards. The attack had taken Vincent by enough surprise to cause him to drop the Mask of Stheno, which slid along the ground a short distance, and was completely ignored by the angry Chimera, which climbed out of the tunnel and drew itself to its full height—taller even than Vincent himself.

The lion-headed creature looked around, and, spotting Vincent, let out a furious roar and spat a mouthful of flames skyward before charging at him with its four hoofed legs.

But Vincent had expected the creature to strike.

“ _Reflect_!”

He had cast the spell (this one taught to him by Pallas Athena herself) when the beast was merely inches from him; it ran headlong into the barrier he had conjured, stunning itself.

Vincent wasn’t about to let the Chimera recover; he raised his right hand, aiming directly at its face—

“ _Diaga_!”

A gigantic pulse of light magic emerged from his hand, knocking him back slightly from the recoil, but striking the Chimera directly in the face. He followed up by raising his left hand, as well—

“ _Darkra_!”

This time, a pulse of dark magic struck the Chimera. The beast roared again, blindly swinging the sword it carried; Vincent once again cast Athena’s Reflect spell to parry a swing that had gotten too close for comfort.

The Chimera opened its jaws, its mouth filling with flames once again as it now advanced slowly towards Vincent, the sword in one hand and a heavy, iron shield in the other. Vincent retreated, walking backwards a few steps before stopping, realizing that he was walking back towards the Parthenon; if the Chimera attacked, it would damage the temple further—and, that, he could not allow, both from a historical perspective, as well as on account of his allegiance to Pallas Athena.

He dodged to the side, and the lion-head followed his movement, spewing three fireballs at him, which missed, sailing harmlessly into the air and dissipating.

“ _Diaga! Darkra!_ ”

The Chimera blocked Vincent’s attacks with the iron shield before swinging its sword at him again; again, Vincent parried the sword strike with the Reflect spell, but the Chimera was ready this time, and it swung the arm with the shield at him, as well.

The iron shield dealt Vincent a glancing blow, momentarily causing him to see stars, but as his vision cleared, he saw the lion-head open its mouth again, spitting out another mouthful of flames at him—

“Rhook out!”

Vincent had been bracing himself to try to cast a spell that would absorb some of the incoming fire damage, but he suddenly found his attention diverted by 180 pounds of Great Dane slamming into his chest from the side, literally and figuratively bowling him over as the Chimera’s flames just barely missed him.

“Scooby! Mr. Van Ghoul!”

“ _Shaggy_ …?” Vincent asked, stunned. He could hear Scooby howling beside him; were they _all_ here!?

“Hey!” he heard Scrappy yell at the Chimera. “You can’t do that to Mr. Van Ghoul or my Uncle Scooby!”

The Chimera also seemed nonplussed by the new intrusion; as Vincent picked himself up, he saw the Chimera turn, and then stare at Daphne, Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and Scrappy for a moment before charging at them.

“Scatter!” Daphne ordered.

The Chimera screeched to a halt as they moved out of the way of its charge; it roared and then charged again, this time, focusing on Shaggy.

“Like, _HELP_!” he yelled.

“ _Reflect_!”

Vincent aimed his spell between Shaggy and the Chimera, once again causing the beast to run headlong into the magical barrier. Shaggy breathed a quick sigh of relief and then ran as the Chimera tried to shake off the collision, seeking a new target.

“That thing is too powerful!” Daphne exclaimed. “Flim-Flam, did you bring the Chest of Demons with you!?”

“I never leave home without it!” he boasted, pulling the Chest from his bigger-on-the-inside hoodie pocket. “Just send that thing my way!”

“Over here, you big meanie!” Scrappy yelled at the Chimera, obliging the request.

“It’ll never work unless we can get the Chimera to stand still long enough!” Vincent chided. “Perhaps if I weaken it enough… _Diaga! Darkra_!”

The Chimera roared as it was hit again by both light and dark magic, and it turned its red-glowing eyes at Vincent once more, readying another charge.

“Mr. V, look out!” Shaggy yelled in alarm.

But Vincent calmly raised his right hand again as the Chimera charged, its sword held high once more—

“ _No_!” Daphne cried.

“ _Temporal Chains_!” Vincent called.

Chains of green light now wrapped themselves around the Chimera, immobilizing it.

“Now, Flim-Flam!” he ordered. “Those chains won’t hold it for long!”

“You got it, Vince!” the boy grinned, now charging forward with the Chest. “Alright, you lion-goat-thing—into the box you go!”

The Temporal Chains broke, and with another roar, the Chimera was pulled into the Chest of Demons, resulting in a sigh of relief all around.

“Oh boy! We sure are lucky that the Chest can hold more than just the 13 Ghosts, huh?” Scrappy grinned. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Scooby…? …Uncle Scooby!”

Scooby was still huddled on the ground where he had landed after tackling Vincent, still howling.

“Scoob, what happened!?” Shaggy asked, running over to him. “Are you…? Oh, no!”

Scooby was clutching his left arm with his right paw—and there was a rather painful-looking burn on it, obviously from the Chimera’s fire.

“Shaggy, quick—take the first aid kit!” Daphne said, handing it to him. “We can find Anna again and ask her if she knows a good veterinarian—”

“I can fix this,” Vincent interrupted her. He knelt beside Shaggy, in front of the whimpering Great Dane. “Scooby, give me your arm.”

Scooby winced, but placed his wounded arm in Vincent’s left hand. Vincent concentrated a moment, passing his right hand over Scooby’s wounded arm.

“ _Esuna_ ,” he called out.

And, in an instant, the burn on Scooby’s arm vanished, and he stopped whimpering, lifting his left arm and looking at it in amazement.

“Like wow, you made him all better!” Shaggy said, relieved again. “Thanks, Mr. V!”

“Rheah! Rhank you!” Scooby exclaimed, suddenly hugging the warlock and licking him on the face.

“Oh…” Vincent sighed, never knowing just how to react to Scooby’s shows of affection. “Well, it could have been worse—let’s just be grateful that it wasn’t. You should have…” He trailed off as the realization finally sunk in. “Wait—you five aren’t even supposed to _be_ here!”

“Eh, details!” Flim-Flam said. “What matters is that we’ve got the old team back together again!”

“We have _not_!” Vincent insisted. “I’m sending you back again, and _this_ time—”

He was interrupted as Daphne cleared her throat, and they all turned to her, staring as she stood there, staring back at Vincent while holding up the Mask of Stheno that she had picked up from where he had dropped it after the Chimera had attacked him.

“ _This_ time,” she finished for him. “Let’s talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anna, like the Mask of Medusa, appeared in “The Stoney Glare Stare” episode of _The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries_.
> 
> As for writing Vincent using offensive magic spells, since we never got to see him use those kinds of spells in the series proper, I based his spell repertoire off of multiple sources, which I would like to properly credit—the Diaga, Darkra, and Esuna spells are from _Final Fantasy_ , Reflect is based off Palutena’s Reflect Barrier from _Kid Icarus_ (in fact, it’s meant to be the exact same spell—I wrote Pallas Athena in chapter 2 with Palutena in mind, as I try to have all of my fics across multiple fandoms in the same unified timeline, and Palutena is essentially Athena; the idea here was that, as Vincent sought her blessings, she taught him how to use the Reflect Barrier himself), and Temporal Chains is pretty much the Stasis+ rune from _Breath of the Wild_.
> 
> As for the Chest of Demons being able to capture the Chimera, we’ve seen in the series that it is able to capture more than just the 13 Ghosts, such as in Nekara’s episode, where Vincent is able to capture her entire bridal party along with her; the Chest appears to be able to hold numerous evil entities, and not just the 13 Ghosts.


	5. Challenging the Doors of Time

This hadn’t been the first time that Daphne had taken up this kind of attitude—it had happened once before, a few months back, in the aftermath of their entire struggle with Rankor. It had been so vexing for Vincent; she normally wasn’t so argumentative. However, last time, it had been on account of her emotions getting the better of her—perhaps that was the reason for this, as well. Surely, she would calm down and see reason soon enough…

And with that in mind, he walked over to Daphne, his hand outstretched.

“I’ll take that mask now,” he said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

“And I said we’re going to talk,” Daphne countered.

Vincent arched an eyebrow.

“Are you insinuating that you won’t hand over the mask until I acquiesce to this discussion you are demanding?”

“If you want to call it that,” she returned.

“…What’s going on…?” Scrappy asked, looking on with unease at the unfolding scene.

“Methinks Daphne is trying to use the mask as leverage,” Flim-Flam observed.

“Oh boy…” Shaggy sighed.

“Rhi don’t like this…” Scooby gulped.

Neither did Vincent, who was now frowning as he took another step forward, aware of the chatter on the sidelines, but ignoring it for now.

“I don’t think I care for your attitude, Daphne,” he chided.

“Well, I guess that makes things even, doesn’t it?” Daphne asked. “I’ve taken issue with some of the things you’ve said and done these past 12 hours, after all.”

“Everything I said and did was with the sole purpose of keeping the five of you safe!” Vincent insisted. “Now, for the last time, give me the mask!”

She didn’t say anything this time, and even though he was close enough to just reach out and take the mask from her, she didn’t make any attempt to move the mask out of his reach. Vincent was puzzled by this, but it was when he saw the look on her face that he felt unnerved. It wasn’t a look of defiance, as he had expected; it was a look of doubt and questioning. She was testing him—testing him to see how far he’d go to get the mask from her, because she honestly did not know the answer and wanted to find out. But why? Why would she have lost so much faith in him after only twelve hours when he had explained why he had done all this? she had even accepted that she had known his intentions, so why…?

“Daphne, what’s gotten into you…?”

His tone of voice had changed completely—no longer demanding or chiding, but now genuinely concerned and confused. And in the back of his mind, he recalled what Boris had warned him about—

 _“Be prepared for_ them _to resent you next. The ginger one—Daphne, was it? Did you see the glare she was giving you?”_

And though Vincent had insisted that she would get over it, and had tried to convince himself that it wouldn’t bother him, he was beginning to realize that he may have been considerably mistaken on both counts.

He glanced at the others in his peripheral vision; they were watching the scene with apprehension. Apprehension of what, though—concern in general, or concern for Daphne specifically? Had he also caused _them_ to somehow doubt him, too?

They obviously couldn’t have resented him _that_ much if they’d tracked him here to Athens and helped him fight that Chimera, and yet… he couldn’t help but feel that he was being held at an arm’s length—and even further away in Daphne’s case.

And now Voudini’s warning returned to his mind, as well—

_“You are therefore failing hideously at recognizing how valuable a thing you’re casting aside!”_

Well, he was recognizing it now, at any rate. Though he hadn’t gone into the endeavor of assisting in the recapture of the 13 ghosts with the intention of acquiring a family in the process, he nevertheless had become a father figure to these five youngsters. Had everything over the past year truly been undone by his actions in the last twelve hours?

How ironic—he had been the one to insist on the five of them recapturing the ghosts so as to learn that there were consequences to one’s actions. That was a lesson that Vincent thought he had learned in his younger years—but, apparently, he had to relearn it now. And however much he had insisted to Boris and Voudini that it wouldn’t have mattered if the kids resented him if it meant their safety, he had been lying—to them, and, apparently, to himself, for he had believed it to be true, too. But faced with the prospect of it now, he found it a most unwanted prospect indeed.

Vincent was brought back to the present as he realized that the Mask of Stheno was being held right out right in front of him—Daphne’d had a change of heart.

“I’m sorry,” she said, softly. “I don’t know what came over me—must have been the lack of sleep…”

That wasn’t it, Vincent knew; she was hiding the real reason for acting that way. And she was refusing to look him in the eyes as she spoke.

“I still want us to have that talk,” she said, still not looking directly at him. “But there’s no point in me holding on to this mask. I thought we could prove a point with it, but… now, I don’t think it would matter, anyway.”

The fact that she’d tried to pull a stunt like that on the most powerful warlock in the world didn’t even seem to be an issue at all. Last time, after dealing with Rankor, when she’d given him a piece of her mind, the fact that he could have retaliated in any number of ways had crossed her mind—and this time had been the same, in spite of just having seen him use his offensive spells against the Chimera. She hadn’t feared for her own safety at all, and yet, her faith had noticeably wavered.

Vincent took the mask she held out, and she took a few steps back; though she stared at the ground, the others were watching him, as though asking if he really was going to send them all back again now.

For the shortest moment, Vincent considered it; he knew that, after a second time—after all this—the chance of them trying to track him down yet again would be highly unlikely. But he also knew that the chances of recovering their lost faith in him would also be highly unlikely. If he threw this away a second time, it would be for good.

And yet, they would be _safe_. They were all so young—and Scrappy and Flim-Flam’s lives had practically just begun. They didn’t deserve to have their lives in danger by Chimeras or Gorgons or whatever Athena’s other missions had in store.

Vincent had only two options—risk losing them one way, or risk losing them another.

And as he had feared, his resolution to send them back again was failing—especially after they had clearly gone through so much to find him again. When he had pushed Voudini and Boris away in his younger years, they hadn’t liked it, and Voudini especially had tried to convince him otherwise, but eventually, he, too, had accepted that there was only so much he could do. These five youngsters, without any magical powers or abilities, had used their wits and resourcefulness to track him down just to talk to him one more time.

“…Alright,” he sighed, after a long moment. “Let’s talk.”

“Do you really mean that?” Daphne asked. “Or are we just going to be pointlessly discussing things with someone whose mind is already made up?”

“Of course I really mean that!” Vincent replied, indignantly. The barb stung, but, perhaps he did deserve it…

What was more, she didn’t look convinced, but she sat beside the others on the ground in front of the Parthenon.

“Look, Vince, before you say anything,” Flim-Flam said. “You just gotta know that all really wanted was to help you out.”

“Yeah—just like how you’ve been helping us out this past year!” Scrappy added. “You didn’t _have_ to help us recapture all those ghosties, but you did.”

“Even though we know you were, like, furious at us for letting them out in the first place,” Shaggy pointed out.

“Rhand we’re still sorry about that,” Scooby added.

“You don’t have to keep apologizing; I know you never intended for it to happen,” Vincent acknowledged. “My emotions got the better of me then—just as they did back in Lady Pallas’s meeting.” He sighed. “Surely, you understand why I said and did those things—why I sent you back?”

“Like, sure—it wasn’t you sending us back that got to us,” Shaggy said. “Well, at least for me; I actually didn’t mind seeing home again… But man, for a while there, we thought you were furious at us again, and we couldn’t figure out why!”

“Thankfully, Mr. Voudini and Mr. Kreepoff explained everything to us,” Daphne added, a noticeable edge to her voice. “But you could’ve just told us yourself, you know.”

“Yeah, Vince—you had a bad day way back when, you got jumped by some challenger, you blew up a mountaintop… We’d have understood,” Flim-Flam said.

“And the thing is, we splatted that Chimera even with you using your powers against it—and you didn’t hurt us,” Scrappy pointed out. “You even helped Uncle Scooby!”

“Rheah, you did!” Scooby added, looking again at his left arm and marveling how it was as if the burn from the Chimera’s fire had never even touched him.

“The spells I used against the Chimera are nowhere near the strength of the spell I used on the mountain that day,” Vincent said, bitterly. “I had wanted to avoid any further damage to Lady Pallas’s Parthenon. Even then, my spells against the Chimera were stronger than I intended them to be.”

“Mr. Voudini mentioned that, too,” Daphne said.

“I still don’t think you fully grasp the implications of what Voudini told you,” Vincent said. “If I wanted to create a small campfire right here, right now, all that would be required would be a small spark of flame. But…” A large fireball, the same size as the ones the Chimera had been breathing, suddenly appeared in his hand for a moment; though they were seated some distance away, the gang could only stare, able to feel the searing heat from where they were sitting. The fireball dissipated, leaving Vincent staring ruefully at his now-empty hand. “…That is the smallest flame I can cast. You were far enough away from the Chimera for my other spells to strike it without causing you any damage.”

“…Well, Mr. V., I can tell you that keeping my distance from monsters is something that I pride myself in,” Shaggy said, with a nervous chuckle.

“Rheah, me too!” Scooby added.

“I mean, I know Scrappy and I aren’t fans of the Tactical Retreat, but I’m sure we can pull that off to give you a clear shot at any monster,” Flim-Flam mused. “Right, Scrappy?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Scrappy sighed. “If it means we can stay with Mr. Van Ghoul, I guess I can try that.”

Vincent just stared at them for a moment.

“…This isn’t even your fight!” he reminded them. “You have your whole lives ahead of you; there’s no need to throw them all away—and for what!?”

“For you, Vince—you’re one of us,” Flim-Flam answered.

“I thought we’d established that,” Daphne said. She still wasn’t looking at him, but it was, at least, a bit of relief to hear her confirm it, given the way she’d been acting.

Still, he was duty-bound not to accept their insistence just yet; Vincent now turned to Shaggy and Scooby.

“I would’ve thought that you two, at least, would rather have stayed away from any of these monsters,” he pointed out.

“Oh, we do,” Shaggy assured him, as Scooby nodded in agreement.

“…Well, then?” Vincent prompted.

The two exchanged glances and then shrugged helplessly.

“Rhe’ve got nothing,” Scooby said, with a sheepish grin.

Vincent facepalmed, sighing in exasperation.

“The words of Shakespeare come to mind…” he said. “ _Lord, what fools these mortals be!_ ”

“…Does that mean we can stay, or what?” Flim-Flam asked.

Vincent looked away for a moment, trying to figure out the best course of action. Finally, he spoke again—

“You can help me retrieve the Mask of Euryale,” he conceded. “But—”

“ _YES_!” Scrappy and Flim-Flam both exclaimed, giving each other a high-five.

“Let me finish!” Vincent chided. “ _Don’t_ get used to this! And I absolutely draw the line at any of you facing the Gorgons in a battle! I know what it’s like to be turned to stone—I don’t want any of you experiencing that for yourselves!”

“Some of us already have,” Daphne said, quietly. “Shaggy, Scrappy, and me.”

Vincent stared at her; she still wasn’t looking at him, but she seemed to know that he was looking her way.

“Of course,” she added. “If you’d just taken five minutes back at the meeting to ask Scooby why he was so upset when the Masks were first mentioned, you would’ve found out then.”

Scooby whimpered, feeling guilty again, and Shaggy once again drew an arm around him.

“…You never mentioned this before,” Vincent said, looking from Scooby to back to Daphne.

“You never asked,” Daphne returned. “But I guess there’s a lot about each other we don’t know—or thought we knew.”

That was another barb directed right at him, and Vincent knew it—though he was still at a loss as to why. Hadn’t he just established why he had done all of this? No, this had to be about something else—this was no longer just about being sent home or the act that he had put on, especially when traveling together was back on the negotiating table. And this clearly had something to do with her lost faith in him.

“Daphne—”

“We’ve got work to do,” she interrupted. “We know the general idea of where the Mask of Euryale is—it’s in Sicily, where the Cyclops colony lives. But where exactly in Sicily that is, we don’t know.”

Whatever was the issue, they clearly weren’t going to discuss it now.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to pinpoint the exact location, but I thank you for narrowing down the search,” Vincent said. “If you give me the crystal ball, I can find exactly where we need to go.”

Flim-Flam pulled the crystal ball from his pocket, but Daphne took it from him before he could give it to Vincent.

“How do we know you won’t use it to send us back again?” she challenged.

“I give you my word,” he returned. “…I would hope that would be good enough for you.”

She didn’t reply to that, but she did hand over the crystal, and then walked back to the others.

Vincent forced himself to turn his attention to the task at hand; he concentrated, and soon, an image appeared in the crystal of a dark cave interior. They couldn’t see anything in the darkness of the cave, but they could hear something that sounded like snoring.

“Is… is rhat the Cyclops?” Scooby stammered.

“Yes, it is,” Vincent said. “I’m not surprised—the Mask of Euryale is likely a valuable object for him, so it makes sense he keeps it close to him. The Cyclops as a species have the tendency to keep precious objects as pendants around their necks. Look…”

He cast a light from his emerald brooch into the crystal ball, and the light gleamed off of some large broadswords and the jeweled eyes of the much-smaller mask that were on a necklace around the creature’s neck.

“Uh…” Shaggy pointed out. “If those big swords are part of a charm necklace, then that must mean that the Cyclops is _gigantic_.”

“Of course it is,” Vincent replied. “They’re known maneaters. How big did you think they were?”

“When Professor Mikos disguised himself as one, he was, like… eight feet tall,” Shaggy said.

Vincent scoffed.

“Not even close—try three times that,” he said. “We’re just lucky this one is sleeping on his back—it’s just about ten feet, rather than 24. But trying to take the mask from him without waking him up will be the difficult part.”

“I bet I could get the mask from him if I had enough of a boost to get up on his belly!” Scrappy said.

“Rho no!” Scooby exclaimed.

“I believe you could, Scrappy,” Vincent realized, though he knew exactly why Scooby was so distressed at the thought of it. “Though I don’t like the idea of sending someone as young as you to do something like that—something I think your uncle would agree on.”

Scooby nodded again.

“But I _am_ the lightest,” Scrappy pointed out. “And we want to avoid waking him up, don’t we?”

“He’s got a point there,” Flim-Flam said. “I mean, as long as we’re quiet and Scrappy is careful, he should be able to pull it off without a hitch.”

“I don’t like it; it’s too risky,” Shaggy said.

“Shaggy’s right—maybe I should be the one,” Daphne said.

“Our best chance would be with the one least likely to be noticed—and yes, if we can avoid waking up the Cyclops and confronting it, that would be preferable,” Vincent said. “I suppose it would be alright to send Scrappy since I would be standing right there—ready to intervene if need be. But only if you’re sure—”

“Sure, I’m sure!” Scrappy exclaimed, his tail wagging in excitement. “I _know_ I can get that mask!”

Vincent glanced back into the crystal ball for a moment before sighing.

“Very well,” he conceded.

He activated the crystal ball, and an instant later, they had all teleported.

****************************

Ahead of Vincent and the gang, however, Bogel and Weerd had already teleported themselves into the Cyclops’s cave; having recovered from Daphne’s outburst, they had gathered the nerve to follow them to Athens and had witnessed the entire battle against the Chimera and the discussion that had followed—and had overheard the plan to have Scrappy steal the mask from the Cyclops.

“Remind me again, Weerd,” Bogel said, casting a nervous glance at the snoring Cyclops. “What are we doing here?”

“A little bit of sabotage,” Weerd said, with a smirk. “Even if that redhead gave us a bawling out about what we tried to do, fact is, we still succeeded in planting a little seed of doubt in her mind. And Van Ghoul knows something’s up with her, too.”

“So?” Bogel asked.

“So, we gotta drive that wedge in further,” Weerd said. “If we wake up the Cyclops at the right moment, Van Ghoul will think those dumb mortals did it—he’ll think they’re just a load instead of actually being able to help him. He’ll send ‘em back again, and there’s no way that redhead will trust him _ever_ again!”

“She still won’t give us the Chest,” Bogel pointed out.

“At that point, Van Ghoul won’t want anything to do with ‘em anymore—we can just _take_ the Chest.”

“Ohhh…”

“Got it? Now let’s get into position…”

Weerd conjured up a bucket of water in his spectral hands and hid behind a stalagmite near the Cyclops’s head; Bogel followed his lead and also hid behind the stalagmite as Vincent and the gang now teleported in. Scrappy had been teleported right onto the Cyclops’s sleeping torso, with the others teleporting right in front of the sleeping giant.

The only light was the dim light from Vincent’s emerald brooch and from the crystal ball; he put a finger to his lips and then held the crystal ball up higher in order to give Scrappy some light.

Scrappy struggled to keep his balance as the Cyclops’s chest rose and fell with each snore, but the puppy slowly made his way to the necklace—and the Mask of Euryale. His tiny paws worked at the clasp until the mask was removed from the necklace. Triumphantly, he held it up over his head to show the others.

Vincent nodded in approval, and Scrappy jumped from the Cyclops’s chest and into Scooby’s arms.

“Now, Bogel—now!” Weerd whispered.

Making themselves invisible, the two ghosts tossed their buckets of water onto the Cyclops’s head just as Vincent was preparing the crystal ball to teleport out; the warlock suddenly froze.

“…Listen…” he whispered.

“…I don’t hear anything,” Shaggy whispered back, after a moment.

“That’s just it—the Cyclops isn’t snoring anymore…” Vincent realized aloud. A look of dread crossed his face as he looked up and over his shoulder.

The others looked as well—looking in time to see the giant get to its feet, drawing itself to its full height—the dim light reflecting off of its single, giant eye as it glared down at them.


	6. One Prize, One Goal

“Run!” Vincent ordered. “Head for the cave’s exit— _go_!”

“Can’t you just warp us out of here, Vince!?” Flim-Flam asked, as they took off down the cavern.

“This Cyclops will still be rampaging—there’s no telling what it could do!” Vincent returned. “Keep going!”

Scooby was still carrying Scrappy, who looked uncharacteristically embarrassed, thinking something he had done had awakened the Cyclops. But as the two dogs looked back, they were both alarmed to see that Vincent had stopped running, turning to face the giant as it approached, towering over him.

“Mr. Van Ghoul!” Scooby yelped.

“What are you doing!?” Shaggy exclaimed.

The Cyclops made a grab for him, but Vincent dodged the giant hand, and seized his opening—

“ _Diaga_!”

The bright light magic blast struck the Cyclops in its eye, and with a roar of pain, it backed away, covering its eye. But Vincent wasn’t finished, casting more light magic spells at the giant relentlessly as the gang continued to watch from over their shoulders as they ran.

The Cyclops was now flailing blindly with its free arm, which Vincent managed to dodge, continuing his counterattack. He had the giant beast on the ropes—but by an unfortunate mix of bad luck and bad timing, though Vincent had dodged yet another attempt by the Cyclops to grab him, the Cyclops’s heel had kicked him squarely in the back, sending him crashing into the cavern wall.

“Vincent!” Daphne cried. She had stopped in her tracks—they all had.

Vincent had managed to lessen the force of the collision by way of putting up his Reflect Barrier, and was preparing to reflect another attempt by the giant to grab him—but something else seemed to be catching the Cyclops’s attention, and, to his horror, he saw that the Cyclops was now sniffing the air in the direction of where the others were, and was now rapidly closing the gap with its gigantic strides.

“ _No_ …!” he gasped.

Even if they had kept on running, the Cyclops would have outrun the gang, and Daphne quickly realized it, too.

“You guys go!” she ordered, practically shoving Shaggy and Flim-Flam towards the exit. “I’ll distract it!”

“But…!” Shaggy wanted to run, and yet he couldn’t—couldn’t abandon Daphne to such a fate…

The giant was almost upon them now, once again reaching out with its free hand, and Shaggy and Scooby (having sent Scrappy off ahead with Flim-Flam) had practically seized Daphne by the arm, intending to drag her away--

“ _THUNDARA_!” they heard Vincent yell.

A gigantic bolt of lightning now crashed through the cavern ceiling, striking the Cyclops and immobilizing it with the sheer level of voltage that had struck it. It had been so powerful, that the resulting electrical field had knocked Shaggy, Scooby, and Daphne off of their feet after they’d received a mild shock from it. Flim-Flam and Scrappy had stopped in their tracks, wondering what to do.

Vincent was still holding the Cyclops in the lightning bolt, his focus unwavering. Daphne glanced from him and then back to the Cyclops.

“Flim-Flam, pass me the Chest—maybe we can capture the Cyclops, too!”

“Well, it’s worth a try!” the boy admitted, tossing the Chest to her.

She gathered her composure for a moment, and then held the Chest out; the lightning stopped the moment Vincent realized what Daphne was trying to do, and aside from a second small jolt of electricity giving a mild shock to her left hand, she was able to capture the gigantic beast in the Chest before breathing out a sigh of relief, which was echoed by Shaggy and Scooby beside her.

As she began to grasp what had just happened, she was aware of Vincent suddenly teleporting in front of them—teleporting, even though it had been just a few yards’ distance, just because he was that concerned—

“Are you alright!?”

“That was some pretty quick thinking there, Vince,” Flim-Flam said, trying to sound cheerful.

“Never mind that!” Vincent said. Flim-Flam and Scrappy looked alright (though Scrappy still looked upset), and they had been far enough away from the Thundara spell, but the other three… “Shaggy? Scooby? Daphne?”

“Rhi’m just peachy…” Scooby sighed.

“Me, too,” Shaggy agreed.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Daphne insisted, but she was flexing the fingers on her left hand, which was still a little tingly. To Vincent’s surprise, she finally met his gaze. “Thank you—for saving us.”

“You don’t have to _thank_ me for that…” he answered, incredulously. It hadn’t escaped him that she was acting as though her hand still hurt. “Daphne—”

“I’m fine—I promise,” she said again. “I… I guess I understand better now about what you and Mr. Voudini meant about your powers—I think we all do. But are _you_ alright? That Cyclops kicked you into the wall…”

“I’m fine, as well—Lady Pallas’s reflect spell has more than just one way to use it,” he assured her. “But do you understand now that _this_ is exactly what I was worried about? You are all woefully unprepared for this sort of thing!” Never mind that they had _also_ been woefully unprepared for taking on the 13 Ghosts, as well, but that wasn’t going to help his case. “And even though I tried to keep that Cyclops at bay long enough for you to get away, he _still_ got too close to you.” He sighed. “In hindsight, I probably should have used Temporal Chains again, but Thundara was the first spell that came to mind, and I knew I had no time to think…”

“Thing is, you wouldn’t have _had_ to fight that big meanie if I hadn’t woken him up,” Scrappy sighed. “I’m sorry—I thought I was being careful…”

“You _were_ careful, Scrappy—you did everything correctly,” Vincent assured the pup. “You weren’t the one who woke up the Cyclops.”

“I wasn’t!?” Scrappy asked, surprised.

“But then, who—?” Shaggy began.

Vincent now shushed them all with a finger to his lips, and silently glanced over his shoulder for a moment before suddenly firing another blast of light magic in that direction—

“ _Diaga_!”

The group of stalagmites near where the Cyclops had been sleeping now broke apart, revealing Bogel and Weerd; the two ghosts were clutching at each other, screaming in absolutely fright.

“Stop! We give up! Mercy! Uncle!” Weerd yelled.

“It was all _his_ idea, anyway!” Bogel added.

Weerd gave him a dark look and shoved him away, but was once again overcome with sheer terror as Vincent now approached with the gang in tow.

“You mean _they_ woke the Cyclops up and _that’s_ why we nearly got splatted!?” Scrappy exclaimed. “Why, I oughta…!”

“You can have what’s left of them after I’m through with them,” Vincent declared.

“Uh… Uh… Hey, Van Ghoul, can’t we talk this over?” Weerd asked, a nervous grin on his face.

“Ohhh, please spare my miserable ectoplasmic being, O Great and Powerful Sorcerer,” Bogel pleaded as he got to his knees.

“ _He’s_ not the one you have to worry about!” Daphne said, pushing past Vincent to confront them—much to the warlock’s surprise. “I thought I told you two—”

“Hey, we didn’t go against what you said! You said you never wanted to see us in your house again!” Bogel interjected. “This is _not_ your house!”

“Bogel you _dimwit_!” Weerd hissed, but then the terror on his face now increased tenfold as Vincent’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“ _They were in your house_!?” he asked; the venom audible in his voice suggested that, after he got through with them, there wouldn’t be much left for Scrappy to deal with.

“Not for long—they made another try for the Chest, but I made it clear that they weren’t welcome,” Daphne said.

“W-Well, you can’t b-blame us for trying, huh?” Weerd stammered as Vincent drew closer. “And it wasn’t as though w-we were just after the Chest, right? A little harmless banter, a little vocabulary lesson…”

Daphne froze, her rage suddenly leaving her.

And this was enough to distract Vincent, who looked back at her in concern.

“Daphne…?”

Weerd seized the moment and phased through the wall of the cavern; Bogel let out an indignant yell at being left behind, and quickly followed his cohort.

Furious, Vincent cast another Diaga spell after them; the spell blasted a hole in the cavern wall, but the two ghosts had vanished.

“Yeah, you’d _better_ run!” Flim-Flam called after them, as Shaggy and Scooby sighed in relief again.

Vincent now muttered something in ancient Greek. He was furious that the two ghosts had dared to invade Daphne’s home, and more than that, he was furious with himself for overlooking the need to cast a protection spell on the house; indeed, Demondo and Zomba had dared to breach the house while he had actually been there—he should have expected intrusion attempts by other supernatural beings in his absence! Undoubtedly, he would’ve remembered to cast a protection spell upon the house had his emotions not gotten the better of him during that meeting. Well, it seemed that there had been no lasting harm done…

…Or _had_ there been? Whatever Weerd had said had affected Daphne—so much so that being reminded of it just now had caused her righteous anger to leave her. Her behavior had been so unexplainedly off since she and the others had caught up with him in Athens—her cold reception, her attempt at testing him, her holding him at an arm’s length, and, only moments ago, thanking him for saving them—as though he hadn’t done that countless times before, just as they had found ways to save him in return!

“…What exactly did those two ghosts say to you all?” Vincent now asked the others.

“I dunno,” Shaggy said. “Daphne was the only one who spoke to them.”

“We heard her yelling in the kitchen, and when we got there, she was giving ‘em what for,” Scrappy added. “I guess they thought that we’d be sore at you and give them the Chest to get back at you.”

“It’s not important,” Daphne said, now coming out of her daze. “What they said—it doesn’t matter now. Of course we wouldn’t give them the Chest.”

“Naturally,” Vincent said. But he was now certain that whatever it was the two spirits had said, that was what had caused Daphne to lose faith in him, for the others had bounced back the moment he had relented to let them stay. And whatever it was, Daphne did not want to talk about it.

Scrappy cleared his throat, holding out the Mask of Euryale now.

“Well, aside from that part with the two meanies waking up the Cyclops, I did get this like I promised,” he said.

“Yes, thank you, Scrappy,” Vincent said, taking the mask from him. “But I’m afraid that your role in this adventure must end now—all of you. I let you come along with me here, but I have to face the Gorgons alone.”

“But how?” Scooby asked. “Rhey can turn you to stone!”

“Only if I look into their eyes,” Vincent reminded him. “The answer, then, is simple—I’ll have to fight them while blindfolded.”

“But Vince! If they can see you, but you can’t see them, you’ll be at such a disadvantage,” Flim-Flam pointed out. “And even if you’re more powerful, what good will that do when they’re immortal?”

“Zoinks, he’s right!” Shaggy gulped. “Man, for being the goddess of wisdom and light, Athena didn’t really think this one through, did she? The Chimera, the Cyclops, and now the Gorgons… How were you supposed to deal with all of that alone?”

“He wasn’t,” Daphne said, the realization dawning on her. “Athena knew that we had the Chest of Demons; I think she was expecting us to get involved and help—except we crashed the meeting sooner than she intended, and, eventually, we got sent home.”

“Do you honestly think Lady Pallas would expect me to put the lives of five mortals in danger!?” Vincent asked. 

Though… she had tried to talk him out of sending them home, hadn’t she?

_“But do you think that a separation as harsh as this isn't a disaster for them, in another form? …And perhaps, a disaster for you, as well?”_

Had that been her way of being subtle?

Vincent pushed the thought from his mind; the fact remained that this was incredibly dangerous!

“You’ve already had too many close calls, and the Gorgons are even worse,” he continued. “They would have to be sufficiently weakened, as the Chimera and Cyclops were, but _they_ weren’t immortal like the Gorgons are. The spells I’d have to use on the Gorgons would be far, far stronger than the ones I used against them—and I still would be fighting them blindfolded.”

“What if you didn’t have to fight them?” Daphne asked. “What if we could distract them long enough so that you can take use one powerful spell on them, and then we can use the Chest?”

“I would rather be petrified myself than have any of you in danger of it!” Vincent returned.

“There is a way that I could distract them without them trying to petrify me,” Daphne said. “Let me wear the Mask of Medusa, and give me a robe or something that she might’ve worn. I could pretend I was Medusa’s spirit, having possessed some random mortal. They’d buy that, wouldn’t they—at least long enough for you to prepare whatever spell you needed? The others could be standing by, hidden somewhere, with the Chest, ready to capture the Gorgons once you cast your spell.”

Vincent was more than a bit baffled by her attitude, to say the least—in spite of whatever doubts in him that those ghosts had put in her head, she was still determined to do this. …Or, was it that seeing the ghosts again had made her realize what she’d been thinking, and this was her way of trying to make up for her earlier behavior?

“I don’t like it,” he insisted.

“I know you don’t, but this is the way we’ve always done things—work together, come up with a plan, split up where we need to, and put all the pieces together. And if we have to wing it when things go awry, that’s just what we do,” Daphne returned. “It worked when the monsters were fake, and it’s been working when they were real, too. We recaptured twelve of the escaped ghosts that way—and now these two mythical creatures, too.”

“I mean… I guess we _have_ been doing well sticking together…” Shaggy agreed.

“Rheah!” Scooby exclaimed. “Rhe’re two for two!”

“Yeah, in spite of all our setbacks,” Flim-Flam grinned.

“And even if you did try to splat those Gorgons alone, there’s a chance those two ghosts might get in the way and mess things up, like how they woke up the Cyclops,” Scrappy pointed out.

Vincent looked away, folding his arms. They all had good points—but he wasn’t about to admit that.

“I don’t understand you five,” he said, at last. “Why do you insist on this when you know how dangerous it is?”

“…You really don’t know?” Daphne asked, though she suspected that he knew full well why—and was just stalling at this point. “It’s the same reason why you want us out of it. We don’t like the idea of you going against the Gorgons any more than you like the idea of us going against them. But, maybe, if we’re all in this together, it’ll make things a little bit better.”

Vincent was now utterly confused—not by her reasoning, but by how her attitude had done a complete 180 turn. Perhaps his hunch was right, and she was now trying to make up for before… But he could still sense an underlying apprehension in her voice as she spoke to him—one that hadn’t been there since the beginning of their adventure of the 13 Ghosts.

For now, however, they had work to do—and as much as he hated to admit it, Daphne’s plan was, indeed, the one that seemed to have the greatest chance of success.

“Let’s discuss the finer details of this plan of yours,” he said, at last.

Whatever those ghosts had said to her, he could only hope that she would, in time, move past that.


	7. A Kind of Magic

Daphne glanced at her reflection. She was back in her room in her house, having tried on the Grecian dress (dark purple and red with gold trim—based off of a dress that Medusa had apparently favored in life) that Vincent had conjured up for her disguise; he had also given her a matching hooded cape to go with the ensemble. It wasn’t her style at all, but, of course, it wasn’t meant to be.

With a sigh, she turned away from the mirror, sitting at her writing desk for a moment. She didn’t really want to do this, of course, but after what had happened, she certainly felt as though she owed it to Vincent.

Though she was still upset with him for bringing up what she had said in a private conversation for everyone else to hear, she was also upset at Bogel and Weerd for causing her to doubt Vincent—and upset at herself for falling for it long enough to feel the need to try to test him back at the Acropolis. She hadn’t expected Vincent to lose his thunder as quickly as he had upon realizing that something was upsetting her—and that had been what had snapped her out of it, realizing that manipulating Vincent into a conversation by using the Mask of Stheno as a bargaining chip was absolutely uncalled for on her end, in spite of however much he had upset her.

Even after that, of course, she had been sharp with him, and he certainly didn’t miss it. And yet, in the heat of the battle against the Cyclops, that had meant nothing to him—Vincent had selflessly put himself between them and the giant monster, and she knew that even if it had been just her and her sharp attitude, he still would have done the same. And that moment of terror when Vincent had been kicked into the cavern wall had been enough to metaphorically shake some sense back into her, even before Bogel and Weerd had been revealed as the troublemakers yet again.

So what if “warlock” meant “Oathbreaker?” That wasn’t a reflection on Vincent himself; he was downstairs right this moment, casting protection spells around the house, for their sake—not his.

The fact that he was casting protection spells on the house, however, was a cause for concern—it suggested that he expected them to return here after this adventure was through. But, surely, if they succeeded, that would give them enough reason to convince him that they should stick together?

They would have to discuss it later. And Daphne suspected that Vincent had wanted to talk to her about the way she’d been acting. And part of her wanted to—wanted to call him out on that breach of trust. But, compared to everything else they’d been through, it seemed so insignificant, to say nothing of embarrassing that she’d reacted in such a way to it; perhaps it would be better to just forget about it and move on.

 _Vincent’s probably forgotten about it by now_ , she rationalized.

She sighed and now left the room, heading for the stairs to join the others, who were talking about their upcoming task.

“Something about this whole thing makes me feel like a bit of a heel,” Shaggy was saying. “Like, I know the Gorgons are evil and we’ve gotta seal ‘em away in the Chest and all… But part of me feels a little guilty that we’re going to trick them into thinking they’re going to see their little sister again.”

“Oh? And what brought this on?” Vincent asked. He was back in the armchair that he had usually claimed on his other visits; having finished casting the protection spells around the house, he was now searching for the Gorgons via the gang’s crystal ball, but he had looked up upon hearing Shaggy’s comment, genuinely interested in his answer.

“Not much, really—I was just thinking,” Shaggy sighed. “I have a little sister of my own—guess I’d know how much Medusa’s sisters must miss her. What do you think, Scoob? You’ve got a little sister, too.”

“Yeah—my mom!” Scrappy exclaimed.

“Rheah,” Scooby sighed. “Rhi’d miss her, too…”

“Wait, why are you guys making me feel sorry for monsters?” Flim-Flam asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with compassion,” Vincent assured them. “If anything, I find it a relief that you all think the way you do. You don’t want to lose your compassion—and it’s an easy thing to do when you’re repeatedly facing monsters and other evil forces. I believe it was Nietzsche who said something along those lines—‘ _If thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee_.’”

“Is that also why you didn’t want us in on this?” Daphne asked.

Everyone turned to look at her as she descended down the stairs.

“One of the reasons,” Vincent replied. “You can’t let that happen to yourselves, so never lose that compassion you have—it’s more than just your defense against the abyss; it’s a kind of magic that you, even as mortals, can still access.” He sighed, glancing at the outfit. “Well, I still don’t like this idea, but once you add the Mask of Medusa to that, you’ll certainly be able to pass as her possessing a mortal.”

She nodded.

“I’d better try it on and get used to it,” she said. And once Vincent handed it over, she placed the mask on, and then immediately took it off, staring at the jeweled eyes.

“What’s wrong, Daphne?” Shaggy asked.

“I can’t see a thing through it!” she exclaimed.

“That was my doing, I’m afraid,” Vincent said, once again searching in the crystal ball. “I can’t run the risk of you making eye contact with either of the other two Gorgons, so I have to make the mask completely opaque.”

“Well, I hate to say it, but I won’t be a very convincing Medusa if I fall flat on my face from not being able to see…”

Vincent sighed.

“I am aware of that,” he assured her. “I just need a moment to concentrate and find Stheno and Euryale—and then I can explain the rest of the plan to you. But I need you to trust me, Daphne.”

Daphne bit her lip. As far as Vincent was concerned, her faith in him was still lost.

 _Okay, so he_ didn’t _forget it already_ …

“I do trust you—I trust you with my life,” she insisted. “And I think I speak for all of us when I say that.” The others nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry about how I acted back at the Acropolis—I _was_ upset, and I said and did some things more harshly than I should’ve, but I’m alright now.”

Vincent didn’t seem to entirely buy it, but he, too, knew they had other things to focus on, and he continued searching for Stheno and Euryale. At last, he succeeded.

“So that’s why it took so long to find them,” he muttered. “They’re in a cave in some sort of pocket dimension—Lady Pallas probably banished them there. And they’ve been actively trying to break free from there ever since.”

“…Which means we can’t just leave those meanies there since there’s a chance they could make it?” Scrappy asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Vincent replied. “ _And_ it means teleporting between dimensions.”

“Rhis that hard?” Scooby asked.

“It involves more power,” Vincent said, drawing out an emerald pendant from his pocket—it matched his emerald brooch perfectly. “So, it’s harder in that sense—but this pendant of mine will make it easier.”

“I’m seeing a theme here,” Flim-Flam observed, glancing from the pendant to Vincent’s brooch. “And it’s rather green.”

“Practitioners of the magic arts can use gemstones and crystals to channel and augment their power, and they choose a stone that represents what they value most,” Vincent explained. “Obviously, one stone can augment their powers to a certain extent—additional stones can augment them significantly; the caveat, of course, is that you must have conviction for what your stone of choice represents. And, obviously, I do.”

Daphne looked as though she wanted to ask exactly what emeralds were supposed to represent, but she knew that this wasn’t the time to ask.

“Now…” Vincent continued, getting to his feet. “I have these talismans for you, Daphne. This first one will automatically translate ancient Greek to English for you—and whatever you say will be translated into Greek for the Gorgons to hear. And this second one will grant your mind’s eye to see what your regular eyes cannot—so you _won’t_ fall flat on your face. I have one of these for each of you, and I am not letting you go with me unless all of you are blindfolded—have I made myself clear?”

They all nodded, and, satisfied, he handed the talismans to Daphne and to the others. Daphne now put the Mask of Medusa on; at first, she couldn’t see, but once the talisman activated, she could see everything around her, but all in emerald green—no doubt powered by Vincent’s magic.

By using his pendant, Vincent then transported them to the pocket dimension’s cavern, behind a large boulder.

“Daphne will go on ahead first,” he said, in an undertone. “Once she distracts the Gorgons, I’ll go a little bit further ahead and start to cast my spell. The rest of you are going to stay right here until I’ve cast my spell—then, and only then, are you going to come out from behind this boulder and use the Chest to seal them. And don’t touch those blindfolds until they’re sealed!” He let out a quiet sigh. “Daphne, are you ready?”

“…No, but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she admitted. She didn’t want to let on how terrified she was; one slight slip-up, and she knew the Gorgons would retaliate without hesitation. “How much time do you need?”

“For the spell I’m going to use? Approximately ten minutes,” Vincent said.

“Ten minutes? I’m supposed to convince those two Gorgons that I’m their dead sister for _ten minutes_? I’ll be lucky if I last _two_!”

“If I had another alternative, I would,” Vincent sighed. “I need a spell strong enough to weaken them, but, at the same time, not cause any of you harm. This Heavenly Light spell will do that—but it needs time to cast. Lady Pallas can cast it instantaneously, but she, of course, is a goddess. My powers may be unrivaled among other mages, but they’re hardly divine.”

Daphne sighed, but nodded. She crept out from behind the boulder and proceeded to go forward, in the direction of two raspy voices. Imitating her voice to sound similar to them, Daphne pulled her courage together and called out—

“Stheno! Euryale!”

There was a stunned silence.

“Sisters!” Daphne continued. “I have returned to you!”

She saw them approach her now, in the altered green field of the talisman’s image. They looked hideous—the gaunt faces and the writhing snakes for hair… And yet, in their eyes—those dangerous, cursed eyes—they had looks of wonder and stunned disbelief that, in spite of their monstrous forms, really did make them seem… almost human.

“I had to borrow a mortal body,” Daphne continued. “But, even then, I managed—”

“Medusa!” Stheno exclaimed.

“Dearest Medusa!” Euryale sighed. “How often we have thought of you!”

“And I have thought much about you, Sisters,” Daphne replied, trying her hardest to stay calm. She was certain her knees would start buckling if she so much as acknowledged the fear she was feeling.

“Sit!” Euryale beckoned, indicating the roaring fire at the end of the cavern. “Sit and sup with us, just as we used to do!”

“We have much to talk about!” Stheno agreed.

Daphne suppressed a shudder, knowing that she wouldn’t want anything they were cooking from this cave. Besides that, she knew she had to stall ten minutes for Vincent to prepare his Heavenly Light spell; she would have to make it count.

“As much as I would love to sit and sup with you, I am here to deliver a grave warning to the both of you.”

The two Gorgons looked surprised.

“A warning…?” Euryale repeated.

Stheno’s expression suddenly turned into a furious scowl; seeing her in the green hue from the talisman, Daphne felt another shiver of fear travel down her spine.

“It is Athena, isn’t it?” Stheno hissed. “She has found out of our attempt to return to the mortal world, hasn’t she?”

“…Yes,” Daphne said. “That was why I had to send word to you somehow, and this was the only way.”

“What are they planning for us if we were to breach to the mortal world?” Euryale asked. “We are immortals—there is little they could to us.”

“The Olympians intend to turn you to stone,” Daphne lied. “By the use of your own masks!”

“But we Gorgons are immune to our own petrifying gazes. That should be impossible…” Stheno gasped. “…Shouldn’t it…?”

“I don’t know,” Euryale confessed. “The masks were made in our images, but designed such that any could use their power—it is possible they _could_ be turned against us!”

“But our masks are well-guarded,” Stheno said.

“I regret to inform you that the Chimera atop the Acropolis and the Cyclops who guarded Euryale’s mask and mine have both been vanquished by the followers of Athena,” Daphne said. “With the Cyclops gone, there was no one left to guard my mask—my spirit possessed the closest mortal and went to the Cave of the Cyclops to retrieve my mask. By sheer fortune, I had beaten them to it.”

“And you risked so much to find your way to us and warn us,” Euryale sighed.

“Do you realize what they could have done to your spirit had they found out who you were and what you were up to!?” Stheno chided her.

“I… I’m sorry…” Daphne stammered.

She was then startled beyond what she could have ever expected as each of the two Gorgons put a hand on her shoulders. Their grips were icy cold and unpleasant—and yet, Daphne knew that she couldn’t react negatively at all to avoid suspicion, despite however much she was cringing internally.

“We cannot blame you, of course,” Euryale said, fondly. “For if it had been one of us, surely we would have done the same.”

“And we are more armed now than they expect,” Stheno added, gleefully. “They do not know that we have _your_ mask, Medusa! They will come here, seeking to petrify us with our other two masks—but we will have set your mask up as a trap first, to petrify them before they get the chance! Give us your mask, dear sister—together, we can defeat them, and perhaps be in a position to bargain with Hades for the return of your true body!”

To Daphne’s horror, Stheno’s hand left her shoulder, now reaching for the mask to remove it, and Daphne felt as though she was petrified already—from fright. But in moments, it would soon be for real—

But before Stheno could remove the mask, suddenly, long swirls of emerald-green magical energy surrounded Daphne, levitating her into the air, out of reach of the two Gorgons. Daphne let out a cry of surprise—completely genuine, for this had most definitely _not_ been part of the plan. What had happened to Vincent’s Heavenly Light spell? His concentration had been broken—he would need another ten minutes to prepare the spell, but now that his presence was known…

Daphne’s thoughts were jolted as the two Gorgons started trying to reach out to her.

“Medusa—!” they cried out, but they found themselves interrupted as Vincent’s deep cackle filled the cavern.

“You fools!” Vincent taunted. “Did you really think that the followers of Lady Pallas did not know what you were doing? When we found the Mask of Medusa missing, we knew it had been claimed by its owner—and so, we followed her, knowing that we would have the chance to dispose of all three Gorgons at once!”

“Spare our sister!” Euryale screamed.

“Do with us as you wish,” Stheno agreed. “But spare Medusa!”

“You are in no position to make demands!” Vincent retorted.

With another yelp of surprise, Daphne found herself flying backwards now, only to stop levitating just behind the boulder—and, therefore, falling right into Shaggy and Scooby’s arms.

“MEDUSA!” the Gorgons wailed.

“Rhat’s Mr. Van Ghoul doing!?” Scooby whispered.

“I don’t know!” Daphne whispered back.

Daphne now peered out from behind the boulder to see the Gorgons heading in their direction to check on her, but soon found themselves bound now—by Vincent’s Temporal Chains spell.

Vincent now teleported in front of the two Gorgons as the rest of the gang also peered out from behind the boulder—he, too, was wearing a blindfold, but no doubt had one of the mind’s eye talismans to grant him the ability to see.

He aimed his left hand behind him—right at the gang.

“Protect! Reflect!” he called.

From his left hand was first cast a large dome of protective magic that then merged with the Reflect Barrier cast right after it, creating a reflective dome around the gang, still watching from behind the boulder.

Vincent now raised his right arm, aiming at the two Gorgons as the Temporal Chains broke and they now began to rush at him—

“This ends here,” he declared. “ _ULTIMA_!”

“What!?” Scrappy gasped.

“Like, isn’t that the spell that Mr. Voudini said—?” Shaggy began.

He was cut off as an enormous sphere of magical energy emerged from Vincent’s hand—a sphere that struck the two Gorgons and flung them back as the sphere began to rapidly expand and grow in intensity.

But as the Gorgons were flung to the back of the cavern, the recoil sent Vincent flying in the opposite direction, towards the gang—but he hit his own reflective dome that he had cast around them, falling to the cavern floor in front of the barrier.

“Vince—!” Flim-Flam exclaimed.

Vincent was slowly trying to get back up, but appeared to be extremely weakened from overexertion—they’d seen it once before, when he’d been recovering from the aftermath of the time Rankor had cursed him.

“Forget about me—use the Chest…” he managed to say, and he let out a grunt of pain as a small chunk of the cavern’s falling ceiling struck him on the right shoulder blade.

Shaggy and Scooby held the Chest up, and the magic box now pulled the two screeching Gorgons into its interior before closing again. In an instant, they’d all removed their blindfolds (and, in Daphne’s case, the mask) and moved to help Vincent—but stopping as they slammed against the protective dome.

“Mr. Van Ghoul!” Daphne cried, hammering on the barrier with her hand. “We can’t get out!”

Vincent, having removed his blindfold, as well, looked over his shoulder—the Ultima spell’s sphere of destruction was still growing, increasing in light and heat, just as it had on the mountaintop all those years ago.

“…That’s the idea,” he sighed. “You’ll be safe in there—I promise.”

“But what about you!?” Shaggy exclaimed.

With another sigh, Vincent drew his cape up as a shield, though knowing that, in spite of its defensive properties, it wouldn’t be a match for _that_ spell… But he didn’t have any more stamina to cast the Reflect Barrier for himself.

“No!” Daphne gasped, realizing that he had, essentially, sacrificed himself for them.

“Mr. Van Ghoul, you have to come inside with us, or you’ll get splatted!” Scrappy realized.

“He’s right, Vince—come on!” Flim-Flam yelled.

Vincent didn’t reply at first; he just attempted to press his hand against the protective dome, as though to demonstrate that it wasn’t possible.

“…You’ll be alright,” he said again, after a moment—perhaps, just to reassure himself.

“Rhut _rhou_ won’t be…!” Scooby whimpered.

They were running out of time, and, motivated by sheer desperation, they pushed and shoved against the barrier as Vincent watched his own devastating attack grow closer and closer with each passing moment, resigned to being hoist with his own petard.

And then, he felt hands—and paws—grab his arms.

He looked back, shocked to see that all five of the others had, somehow, managed to phase their arms through the barrier to grab him, and before he could even figure out how that had even been possible, they had pulled him through the barrier, which re-solidified behind them.

He knelt there, stunned for a moment as the white-hot Ultima spell now expanded all around them—but, within the protective dome, they were safe and unscathed. That didn’t do anything to quell the fear of his five young companions, however; they were still clinging to his arms—and he was vaguely aware of something sharp gripping his arm, too—either Daphne’s nails or Scooby’s claws, or probably both, given how they were all trembling. But even that was taking a backseat to his confusion—

“…You shouldn’t have been able to do that…” he managed to say. “How did you get through my barrier…?”

The looks they gave him in return were just as baffled— _they_ didn’t even know how they’d done it, just like they hadn’t known how they’d breached Pallas Athena’s barrier to crash the meeting.

But there was more than just confusion in their eyes; that was clearly eclipsed by the worry and concern as they looked at him, the realization sinking in as to how close they’d come to losing him—and some amount of guilt that it had been because he’d prioritized protecting them over himself…

And in that moment, he realized how they’d done it; he’d even said it himself, just before they’d arrived here—that their compassion was a kind of magic that even they, as mortals, could utilize.

“…Well,” he sighed. “Who knew…?”

“…Mr. V?” Shaggy asked, concerned.

“I think he’s delirious…” Daphne fretted.

“I’ll be fine,” Vincent insisted, pulling the crystal ball from his cape. “But we need to get out of here.”

“Vince, no!” Flim-Flam exclaimed. “You’ll drain yourself even more—!”

But Vincent activated the crystal’s transporter, his emerald brooch and pendant glowing again—

“…Take us home,” he instructed.

And an instant later, they found themselves back in Vincent’s study. They gang paused, surprised to find that “home” was here and not Daphne’s house, but their attention was quickly diverted as Vincent managed to gently place the crystal ball on the floor, and then proceeded to place a hand on his now-dizzy head. The others, who had previously been clinging to his arms out of fright and relief, were now holding onto him to keep him upright.

“I told you, I’ll be fine…” he said again. “Just… just let me rest…”

Between his dizziness from having pushed his endurance too far, _and_ the aches and pains from having been thrown backwards into the Reflect Barrier from Ultima’s recoil, staying conscious wasn’t really an option anymore. But as the darkness closed in, he was aware of all of them calling his name, pleading with him to hold on.

****************************

When Vincent regained consciousness, he was momentarily confused to find himself in his own bed. For the briefest instant, he had wondered if he’d dreamed the whole ordeal—but the fact that he was still feeling utterly exhausted quickly told him that it had, indeed, been real. And then, he heard Voudini’s voice at his bedside—

“Welcome back, Friend.”

“…How long have you been here?” Vincent asked.

“Since Miss Blake used your crystal to contact me on my palantír,” Voudini replied, calmly. “You have a very resourceful quintet of apprentices, Vincent.”

“Very resourceful, and very loyal,” Boris added.

Vincent sat up, glancing over at Boris to see him standing beside the gang, who were sound asleep on a pile of pillows; Daphne was still in the dark red-and-purple Medusa dress, but she’d apparently given the hooded cape to Flim-Flam and Scrappy to use as a blanket. “And while waiting for you to regain consciousness, they apparently lost theirs.”

“Are they…?” Vincent began, about to get out of bed to check on them, but Voudini gripped him by the shoulder to keep him there.

“They’re perfectly fine,” he assured him.

“They must have gone without sleep for a day and a half,” Pallas Athena said, in sympathy. “Easy enough for warlocks, but mortals… not so much.”

“Lady Pallas—!” Vincent began.

“No need to get up and bow,” she said, with a smile. “As Voudini said, your apprentices are quite resourceful—they already gave me the three Masks of the Gorgons, and have assured me that Stheno and Euryale are no longer a threat. You have all done very well.”

“…You don’t seem surprised to see them here, after you all saw me send them back,” Vincent realized.

“Not at all,” the goddess smiled. “I’ve seen it before—and I knew you were wise enough to realize yourself what the best decision was. Oh, I have no doubt that you would’ve found ways to complete my mission without them, but I don’t think you would have found them as fulfilling.”

“Yes, I… realized that eventually,” Vincent admitted.

“And no one is more grateful than I that you realized it,” Voudini said. “You’ve spent far too much time alone. No one deserves that fate—and certainly not you.”

“Perhaps not,” said Vincent. “Voudini… if something should happen to me—”

“Of course, I would look after them for you,” Voudini insisted. “But I do think they would prefer you to be alive and well. And to see you on your feet again will certainly help alleviate some of those worries they shoulder now.” He took a goblet from the bedside table and handed it to Vincent. “I brewed that mana potion myself once they had told me what had happened.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Vincent said, gratefully taking a drink from the goblet. “It wasn’t just the overexertion; I don’t remember Ultima having _that_ much of a recoil to it—it took me completely by surprise.”

“…Of course, you are no longer young,” Boris deadpanned.

“… _You’re_ one to talk,” Vincent countered.

“He isn’t entirely wrong, Vincent…” Voudini began.

The three warlocks immediately started talking over each other as Athena watched in some amusement. Scooby, the lightest sleeper of the five mortals, looked up from his pile of pillows after being awakened by the chatter, took a moment to register what he was seeing, and then joyfully shoved the others awake.

Soon, they were all clamoring around Vincent, asking how he was, and if he really was going to be alright.

“Believe me, I’m in a much better position now than I would’ve been if you five hadn’t intervened,” he assured them.

“But you were out cold for such a long time again,” Scrappy said.

“From what you had told me, it is to be expected,” Voudini replied. “Between dealing with the Chimera and the Cyclops, Vincent had cast several spells already, and Ultima uses up quite a lot of mana—magical stamina—to cast; it’s no wonder that Vincent drove himself to exhaustion casting that. Let’s see, how can I best describe it…? You, young man, are an athlete, correct?”

“Uh, well I _was_ —back in high school,” Shaggy said.

“Then you would understand what would happen if you did a full decathlon—and then ran a four-minute mile on top of that?”

“Like, I’d be bushed for days,” Shaggy agreed.

“Vincent just did the magical equivalent of all of that,” Voudini said. “Warlocks overexert their mana all the time—but over time, they will recover, and this potion that I’ve given Vincent will hasten that further. You’ll see—he’ll be back on his feet in just a few hours, provided you let him rest some more.”

“But Vince had to transfer some of his mana to you in New Orleans, didn’t he?” Flim-Flam asked.

“Overexerting mana isn’t the same thing as having it stolen,” Voudini sighed. “Mana affects the vitality of a magical practitioner. You saw how Vincent overexerting his mana affected his physical condition, as well—to have one’s mana outright _stolen_ is a death sentence. Mercifully, Vincent was able to loan me some of his mana until Lady Pallas restored mine—to which I am still eternally grateful for, My Lady.”

“And you and Boris did your task well—I could have asked no more of you,” she replied. “All of you did far better than I would have thought. I shall give you ample time to recover before I give you your next tasks.”

“Oh…” Scrappy said. “Then… I guess it’s back to America for us once you assign the next missions, huh?”

“Well, I’m not the one who can answer that,” Athena said.

The five now looked to Vincent, who had just finished the goblet of mana potion. With a sigh, he put the goblet back on the bedside table and addressed them.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that you five are the most stubborn, vexing mortals I have ever met in my life,” he said. “But for some reason, I’ve found that I prefer having you around.”

“Rhou mean…?” Scooby asked.

“…Yes,” Vincent sighed. “You can stay—as long as you like.”

Scrappy and Flim-Flam celebrated with a high-five again, and Shaggy and Scooby sighed contentedly—and Daphne just responded with a smile.

“Thank you for reconsidering,” she said.

She was acting so formal again, just as she had when she had thanked him for saving them from the Cyclops. But before Vincent could address it, Shaggy suddenly spoke up.

“Hey!” he exclaimed. “All of our stuff is back at Daphne’s place!”

“Vincent must rest,” Voudini insisted. “But Boris and I can help you bring whatever you need.”

“We can?” Boris asked. He backtracked as Voudini gave him a look. “Er, yes. We can.”

“Then it’s settled,” Athena said, with a contented smile. “I’ll talk to you all again sometime.”

She exited through another one of her doorways of light, which closed behind her, and Voudini turned to the gang.

“Boris will help you get started, I need to have one quick word with Vincent and will join you all in a moment.”

Boris took his leave of Vincent and was then swarmed by Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and the dogs, listing the things they wanted as they left Vincent’s room. Daphne followed behind them in silence.

Voudini then turned back to Vincent.

“I am truly glad, my friend, that you did realize in time what you were about to cast aside.”

“So am I,” Vincent admitted. “Even if it wasn’t for very long, I actually found myself missing them…”

He trailed off, and both he and Voudini looked around as the sound of boosted bass was audible through the walls.

“…It would appear they asked Boris for a hi-fi music system,” Voudini observed.

Vincent sighed.

“…I signed up for this, didn’t I…?”

“You certainly did,” Voudini smirked. He gave Vincent a clap on the shoulder. “Enjoy the experience of fatherhood—but fear not; I shall instruct them to turn that off whilst you rest.”

“I appreciate it,” Vincent mused, reclining back onto his pillow with a yawn.

“Once Boris and I help the youngsters settle in, we shall both be taking our leave—Boris wishes for me to go over the footage that insufferable cameraman of his took while we were in the Labyrinth.”

“…Boris wants to air the mission footage for his show?”

Voudini forced a smile and nodded.

“With myself as his special guest. So, I will take my leave of you now, my friend, for I do not wish to wake you later.”

“Take care, Voudini,” Vincent returned. And, despite the music blaring in the other room, he was soon asleep once more.

Voudini quietly left Vincent’s room, closing the door behind him—and then paused in surprise to see Daphne still standing in the hallway, not having gone with the others. She was facepalming—presumably about the others playing that music.

“Miss Blake?”

“Huh? Oh, Mr. Voudini…”

“I would have thought you would be asking Boris to bring your things over?”

“Well, the others have Mr. Kreepoff pretty busy, as you can hear…” she sighed, shaking her head.

Voudini chuckled.

“Yes, perhaps he _could_ use the aid of another warlock in this endeavor…”

Daphne suddenly looked at him.

“Why do you call yourselves that?” she wondered aloud.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Warlock—it’s from a word that means ‘Oathbreaker,’ isn’t it?” she asked. “Why would you call yourselves something like that?”

Voudini blinked; he, too, had noticed Daphne’s changed behavior, and he was beginning to realize why.

“Miss Blake, I can assure you that the origins of that word have nothing to do with us as individuals,” he said. “Boris may have had a moment of weakness—but he has truly regretted it, and is doing his best to make up for it. And as for myself, I would never consider breaking an oath—and Vincent certainly would not!”

“But, then why—?”

“For the greater part of our lives, we were merely known as sorcerers and mages,” Voudini said. His expression darkened. “Then came the witch hunts. They branded us as Oathbreakers to justify our persecution, whether or not our intentions of using the magic arts were for good or ill. In defiance, we started calling ourselves Warlocks—to reclaim the branding.”

Daphne’s mouth fell open.

“I… I completely forgot that the three of you lived through the witch hunts…” she said, stunned. “…Did they come after you three?”

“Boris was smart enough to keep his head down and go into hiding; he didn’t utilize his powers much anyway, preferring to merely study the paranormal. But the rest of our Order were all in the line of fire. We scattered in a panic, on the run.” Voudini glanced back at Vincent’s closed door. “As the most powerful member of our Order, Vincent felt compelled to ensure our safety—even at the cost of his own. These witch hunts had come shortly after a deep, personal tragedy in Vincent’s life, and he was determined not to lose anyone else. He traveled all over Europe acting as a decoy whenever the witch hunters were closing in on one of us. He would also do the same for any innocent mortals he could find who had been falsely accused.”

Daphne stared.

“He did all that…?”

“That’s the kind of man he is. He kept it up for a long time… until he could no longer do so.” Voudini looked away, upset about something. “I lost track of him around the Black Forest, but from what another member of the Order told me, Vincent was being pursued by the witch hunters, but stopped when he saw a child drowning in a stream. He used his powers to rescue the child, but, in doing so, forfeited his chance of escape.” He glanced at Daphne, who had her hand over her mouth in shock. “Exactly what they did to him, I don’t know—Vincent has never told anyone, not even me. All I know is that the mother of the child he had saved had enough of a conscience after seeing what he was going through to help him escape. But, between his personal tragedy from before the hunts, and whatever it was he had gone through at his captors’ hands, it was more than he could stand—he sealed himself here in this castle, alone, for the greater part of the last three hundred years. Boris and I did what we could, of course, trying to save him from himself. But it wasn’t until little Flim-Flam turned up here three years ago that things began to change—he was six years old at the time, a runaway from one of the orphanages on a winter night much like this one… I don’t know how that boy got the idea to come here for shelter, but, in doing so, he not only saved himself, but he might have saved Vincent, too. And the rest of you entered the picture a year ago, and helped him even further. I don’t think you’ll ever fully understand how much you all have helped Vincent—which is why I am relieved to hear that you’ll be staying. I humbly request that you and the others continue to look after him. And I know he will do the same for all of you.”

Daphne was still trying to process what she had just heard, but she managed a nod.

“Now come with me—I will help transport anything you need from your house,” Voudini said. He sighed. “…And I shall hopefully get that infernal music to stop, as well…”

Daphne managed a smile now, following Voudini to where the others were playing the music.

There was still a lot to take in—but she understood Vincent much better after hearing Voudini’s story.

And outside the castle, barred from entry on account of all the protection spells that surrounded it, Bogel and Weerd watched impatiently in the cold, sighing as Daphne appeared to have no qualms about staying—at least, if the look on her face through the window was any inclination.

“It almost worked, Bogel,” Weerd sighed. “Doesn’t look like the redhead will fall for that one again. Oh well.”

“Back to the old drawing board, huh?” Bogel asked.

“Yeah. Back to the old drawing board. But someday, Bogel—someday, we’ll get the Chest from ‘em—one way or another!”

Bogel wasn’t so sure—but trying to get the Chest back was a task they were essentially bound to. So, they would keep trying.

… _Well, it’s nice to have something to do_ , he decided, as they vanished into the night.

****

****

**Epilogue: One Golden Glance of What Should Be**

The winter winds still howled around the castle as they had before this whole thing had started. Had it really been just 48 hours that everything had been turned upside-down, and then hastily up-righted once again?

If it hadn’t been for that one detail, Daphne would have found the winds as lulling as she normally did. But tonight, she couldn’t sleep. The brief moments she’d managed to drift off had been full of nightmares—the charging Chimera, the Cyclops reaching out to grab her, the horrible faces of the Gorgons…

It wasn’t just the nightmares, but the guilt she had been feeling, as well. Whether or not she had intended it, Vincent had clearly felt hurt upon thinking that she had lost her faith in him (made worse by the fact that she _had_ , however slightly and however briefly it had lasted), but that hadn’t stopped him from throwing himself in harm’s way to protect her and the others—and this, clearly, wasn’t a new thing for him, either, based on Voudini’s story earlier.

And, of course, she was trying very hard not to think about what the witch hunters could have done to Vincent to cause himself to think he’d be better off being alone for _three hundred years_ …

She pushed the thought aside, instead crossing to her writing desk, which Voudini had helped transfer from her house to here. Perhaps there was an article in the making regarding about the three Gorgons’ Masks; her editor would certainly publish it if she could make it unique enough—perhaps a take on how monsters, no matter what terrible things they may have done, were still capable of having feelings.

She pulled up the word processor on her computer, and then pulled up an encyclopedia to help refresh her memory on the origins of the Gorgons. She paused after a moment, recalling something else she had been curious about, and then consulted the encyclopedia, looking up the entry on the emerald, and skipping to the section on its significance.

“‘The emerald is believed to have mystic properties that augments clairvoyance,’” she read aloud quietly. “‘But the emerald itself, known as the Stone of Successful Love, is said to represent loyalty, compassion, and unconditional love—and its green hue representing its connection to the heart chakra, which also represents compassion and unconditional love.’”

Her guilt returned full force, fully understanding now what Voudini had meant by Vincent not being able to consider breaking an oath—not when he valued _that_ the most. And that meant that spending three hundred years alone must have been sheer torture for him…

Daphne sighed, getting to her feet. This night would call for coffee—and lots of it.

But as she headed out of the castle’s turret and onto the stairwell, as Shaggy had two nights ago, she noticed that the door to the eastern wing was open—and noticed the light coming from Vincent’s study.

She stood there for a moment, and then steeled her resolve as she walked to the study—she and Vincent both knew there was an elephant in the room, and though Daphne was ready to forget about it and move on, she knew it would still be there on Vincent’s mind.

He was crystal-gazing again—rather aimlessly, it seemed, and he looked up as she cleared her throat while still in the doorway.

“How’re you feeling?” she asked.

“Much better, thank you,” Vincent replied.

“I was just about to go get some coffee—would you like some?”

“Coffee? At _this_ hour?”

“Well, I thought I’d work on an article,” she said.

“I reiterate—at _this_ hour?”

She shrugged.

“Well, you know how it is…”

“…Yes, I’m afraid I do,” Vincent agreed, gazing back into the crystal. “Well, good luck on your article.”

Daphne bit her lip.

“Actually… can I come in?”

Vincent looked up again.

“You don’t need my permission to go anywhere,” he reminded her. “…And you don’t need to walk on eggshells around me, either.”

“I know—I _know_ ,” Daphne sighed, sitting at the other side of Vincent’s crystal-gazing table. “I just felt so awkward and I didn’t know what else to do, so I just… Well, let me start over. Mr. Van Ghoul, I am _so_ sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I’m sorry I let those two ghosts get to me, I’m so sorry I doubted you, and I’m so sorry about the passive-aggressive way I acted before I realized what I was doing. Once I realized it, I guess I swung back in the opposite direction.” She exhaled. “Those two ghosts had tried to get to me by saying that ‘warlock’ was derived from a word meaning ‘Oathbreaker,’ and when I looked it up and saw that they were right, I jumped to a terrible conclusion. Mr. Voudini explained it to me, though—about the witch hunters, and…” She trailed off, not wanting to awaken any unpleasant memories. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“…That last one isn’t something you have to apologize for,” Vincent pointed out.

“I guess not,” Daphne mused. “But for everything else, I do apologize.”

“And your apology is accepted,” Vincent promised her.

“Thank you,” Daphne smiled. She then sighed in relief. “Well, I’m glad that’s over. I’ll just go get that coffee…”

“Daphne…” Vincent said, before she could leave. “…What exactly was it that I did to cause you to lose your faith in me?”

Daphne blinked; she hadn’t expected that, but, in hindsight, she realized that she should’ve. If his choice if the emerald meant that he prized loyalty and compassion above all else, then this must have felt like a personal failure. And she didn’t want to burden him with that guilt—not when she realized now that he had never intended to hurt her or betray her trust by bringing up Fred and Velma.

“I told you, those ghosts tried to trick me—they told me about the origin of ‘warlock,’ and I thought—”

“You’re smarter than that,” Vincent said. “You would never have believed that I was untrustworthy if I hadn’t given you a reason. I thought, at first, it was because of how I’d sent you all back without refusing to listen, but that wasn’t it, was it?”

Daphne sighed, staring glumly at the table.

“No,” she admitted. “But it’s all so unimportant now, though—I feel stupid for even thinking it was. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“If it affected you that strongly, I would hardly call that unimportant,” Vincent pointed out.

She bit her lip, and finally admitted the truth—

“After we’d broken the curse Rankor had cast on you, you’d overheard me talking to Fred and Velma on the phone and trying to insist that everything was fine, and then I told you later about how guilty I’d felt for not telling them about the Chest of Demons, and you were telling me that I’d done the right thing, and… Well, I hadn’t told anyone else that I’d felt guilty about it; I think I even told you that, and I’d assumed that would’ve just been a part of that private conversation between us…”

Vincent cringed, realizing exactly where he’d gone wrong.

“…Oh dear…”

“…And then you brought it up at the meeting two nights ago when I was trying to convince you to let us stay,” Daphne admitted. “And I guess a part of me was annoyed that you were right—that you wanted to keep us out of it like I’d wanted to keep Fred and Velma out of it. But, more than that, it was something that I was torn up about, and it felt like you were just throwing it right back in my face, in front of everyone. But I _know_ you didn’t mean it—you were worried and upset, we were worried and upset, and we all said stuff without thinking!”

“But that didn’t change the fact that it hurt,” Vincent realized. “And, indeed, I shouldn’t have uttered things that were told to me when I was confided in. Daphne, I am truly sorry.”

Daphne blinked.

“… _You’re_ apologizing to _me_? I was the one who acted so childishly about the whole thing afterwards!”

“Not without good reason,” Vincent said.

“Well, I accept your apology, too,” she said, with a smile. “And I think I owe Shaggy and Scooby an apology of my own. There were times this past year I’d been giving them a bit of a hard time for being tricked by those ghosts into opening the Chest, but… seeing how easily I got tricked by them into thinking I couldn’t trust you, of all people… Even if it was only for a short time, after everything you’ve done for us, I actually doubted…” Her voice cracked and her smile faded as she got to her feet. “I’m going to get that coffee now…”

“Daphne?”

Vincent had gotten to his feet, as well; he’d stood up a bit too fast, still needing a bit more recovery time to be as agile as he normally was, he had to grab the edge of the table to steady himself.

A fresh wave of guilt washed over Daphne.

“Are you sure you’re okay!?” she asked. The stresses of the last 48 hours were rapidly catching up with her; it had all been so much to deal with—being bounced around, getting manipulated by Bogel and Weerd, trying to find Vincent again, dealing with the Chimera and the Cyclops, getting up close and personal with the Gorgons, and nearly losing Vincent…

And Vincent was just looking at her in concern.

“I’ll be fine, Daphne. But what about you?”

She hesitated.

“It’s… been a rough couple of days,” she managed to say.

“I imagine so…” Vincent began, but he was cut off as Daphne hugged him. He stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Daphne, you should know I’m not exactly the… hugging type, as it were….”

“After three hundred years alone, I can see why.”

“…Voudini really _did_ explain it, didn’t he?” Vincent sighed.

Daphne drew back and nodded.

“Well… whatever he knew,” she admitted. “…He said that you never told anyone what had happened to you…” She trailed off.

“He’s right; I never did,” Vincent returned. “And _you_ don’t need to hear it with all the things on your mind already.”

“I understand,” Daphne said. “I’m just glad you’re alright—from that, and from all this. I guess that’s also why I felt so guilty about doubting you—especially after you kept on sticking your neck out for us after that. You changed the plan just because you saw that Stheno was going to remove the mask I was wearing—and then you used your Reflect spell on us instead of yourself when you cast Ultima.”

“It was entirely my choice, and I don’t regret any of it—so please don’t blame yourself,” Vincent said, sincerely. This prompted Daphne to hug him again, leaving him standing there awkwardly once more.

“Hey, Mr. V, I saw the light on in here—I was wondering how you were feeling,” Shaggy suddenly said, walking in with another piled-high plate of shortbread he’d pilfered from the kitchen; Scooby was right on his heels, having been looking for an opening to pilfer the pilfered shortbread—and Scrappy and Flim-Flam were right behind him, also aiming to sneak away with their share, as well.

Daphne smiled and waved them over.

“Bring it in,” she said, extending one arm while keeping the other around Vincent.

“What…?” Vincent asked.

“Rheah!” Scooby exclaimed. “Group hug!”

“… _What_!?” Vincent asked again.

He quickly realized what he was in for as Shaggy once again abandoned his plate of shortbread and they all bounded over; Vincent merely sighed in resignation as he found himself in a tangle of arms.

“…Oh, very well,” he relented; he surrendered to the inevitable and drew his arms around them, as well.

None of this had been as Vincent intended—he’d planned for a simple and swift recapturing of the Thirteen Ghosts, upon which Flim-Flam would’ve returned to the village, the others would’ve returned Stateside, and that would’ve been the end of it. But they were, as he’d described earlier, incredibly stubborn and vexing—and they were making it clear, under no uncertain terms, that Vincent’s self-imposed exile of the last three hundred years was over and done.

Fine, then—they’d won. They’d beaten the most powerful warlock in the world in a battle of wills without even realizing it. 

And Vincent knew he’d be eternally grateful for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end (well, at least for the first installment in my “13 Ghosts: Season 2” series)! Thanks to everyone who supported this! Just a few acknowledgements here—the Ultima spell that Vincent casts, like some of the previous spells, is from _Final Fantasy_.  
> The significance of the emerald representing compassion and loyalty is, in fact, real based on the research I did, and I have to wonder whether the writers and animators of the 13 Ghosts series actually had that in mind when they gave Vincent his emeralds motif in the show, as it fits his personality _perfectly_.
> 
> Lastly, I did leave a bit of a loose end in this fic, as I didn’t reveal exactly what had happened to Vincent during the witch hunts that caused him to go into a self-imposed exile for three hundred years; I intend to address that in my next fic—which, given the nature of, will be a bit darker than this fic, and is intended to be more of a character study, not just for Vincent, but the rest of the gang, as well. The fic I have planned after that one will be more light-hearted, but for those of you interested in fics that explore darker, angsty elements, my second installment will begin posting in October.


End file.
